"SOLAR STILLS :EPIC FAIL "

How many of you have read about solar stills in so many survival books and how to make one. Now how many of you tried to make one . My bet is if you made one even under ideal conditions the return was less than a half cup of water after several hours . A lot of effort and sweat went into the project with a huge fail.  First thing is most do not carry a shovel or a large plastic tarp.  Even if you do the failure is just waiting for you and it could  lead to death. Not good . The answer is the transpiration bag , made with clear plastic . you wrap the leaves on a  living plant and tie it off , make sure it is not a toxic plant as the water will taste much like the plant,  the taste is imparted to the water . leave it alone for several hours and return to some real results of enough water to save you , if you can bag several plants, you will gather plenty of water to cook with and drink as you wish. Once you Are done unwrap all the bags and remove them from the plant as you could kill the plant that just saved your bacon, attach more in the morning  in full sunlight . A black plastic bag will not work. I always carry several clear bags in my pockets when in the wild. They take up no room and no weight to speak of, easy as  easy as easy can be. 

 When you wrap the plant leaves be careful not to poke holes in the bags as you can use them over and over. Over the last 20 years or so  my friends Christopher Nyerges and Alan Halcon and myself have constructed dozens and dozens of solar stills just to show they do not work as promoted, in Christophers classes the students are always stunned after the hard work of preparing the still. and that is using a lot of manpower  imagine doing all that work alone , it is staggering and most would never be able to do it in the first place. You will lose more water through sweating than you can gain, that is not good news 

 The transpiration bag is the real deal and no real work to do,  you can tie up a dozen in less than an hour . Even in the high desert where I live they work great , and can be a life saver . Try out the bag in your own yard first so you get an idea of how they work . Always place them in full sun. check them every few hours as they fill up they will drag down some of the smaller branches. I just wish more authors would try some of the skills rather than just assume something works because they read it themselves somewhere . So solar stills are an epic fail , no doubt  We have made stills in all kinds of locations are are supposed to work well , no dice and no water to speak of , wasted time and effort. Hope this helps you when you really need it. Just stuff a few bags in your pack or back pocket. if you can I would boil the water just be safe but we have never done that.  but just cover your 6 

 by  Dude McLean