Long Distance Trails, lightweight backpacking and gear, map measures and anything outdoorsy
Gear talk: converting a 42mm neck HydraPak bladder to fit a 28mm water filter- the hack
42mm neck HydraPak bladder converted to fit a 28mm thread water filter
Three Points of the Compass looks at fitting a 28mm thread Sawyer Squeeze water filter to a 42mm neck HydraPak water bladder.
Many backpackers prefer the wider opening on HydraPak bladders and bottles over the narrow necks found on water bladders such as some Cnoc bladders, Evernew bladders, Sawyer squeeze pouches and other options. While there are dedicated wide-neck screw-on filters with 42mm threads for the HydraPak bladders, such as the Katadyn BeFree, Salomon Soft Flask XA Filter and HydraPak’s own 42mm Filter Cap, many backpackers prefer one of the filters with a narrower threaded neck, such as the ubiquitous Sawyer Squeeze. But how to marry their preferred options together? There are a couple of ways this is can be achieved, one is a hack requiring a donor BeFree filter, the other requires off-the-shelf purchase. In the first of two posts on the subject, I look here at the simple hack. I’ll look at the HydraPak solution separately.
For this hack, a donor Katadyn BeFree filter is required. This can be one that has reached the end of its useful life, as here with an irretrievably blocked filter
TPU ring can be removed from the filter. This provides grip when firmly screwing a filter on. Note the internal ridges that fit inside grooves on the filter neck
Filter element is removed from the filter neck. This is easily done by twisting sideways rather than pulling outward
Shave off the residue white sealant
Cleaned BeFree filter neck
Note there is a thin black O-ring on the filter
While the O-ring will sit inside the filter neck, it is too thin and too small and achieves nothing so do not use. An appropriately sized gasket would be useful but I don’t have one
The various parts of a dismantled BeFree filter
What was once the exit point for clean water from the filter tubes
Return the TPU ring to the filter neck, this will aid in grip when tightening
The result. A broken down BeFree filter with 42mm thread provides an adapter with a 28mm thread to which any compatible filter can be screwed
Two litre HydraPak Seeker bladder with 42mm opening, converted to fit a 28mm neck Sawyer Filter
The best of both worlds? I’ll leave that for you to decide
Note that the filter has to be firmly screwed on to the adapted BeFree filter neck to form a water tight seal. This thread adapter weighs 14.5g. The ‘official’ adapters from HydraPak can weigh as little as 25g. I’ll look at that option in another post.
Do you have any strategies for removing the blue filter piece from the white mouth, other than twisting hard? I’ve tried a variety of methods and can’t seem to twist it off.
I haven’t much for you Jonathan, my apologies. I have modded three old filters in this manner and had no trouble with any of them. I can only suggest brute force, twisting sideways, away from the plane of the filter. There really isn’t much holding the filter cage in place
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Great content! Thanks for sharing. Do you have any dead Befree filter ?
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Don’t think so. Have mostly transitioned to Pure Clear filters. Though I am also trialling the new BeFree Activated Carbon
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Do you have any strategies for removing the blue filter piece from the white mouth, other than twisting hard? I’ve tried a variety of methods and can’t seem to twist it off.
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I haven’t much for you Jonathan, my apologies. I have modded three old filters in this manner and had no trouble with any of them. I can only suggest brute force, twisting sideways, away from the plane of the filter. There really isn’t much holding the filter cage in place
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