I have recently moved from using a standard Camelbak reservoir to using Evernew bladders with Evernew's drinking tube for use on the trail. Lighter, carries less water, but still have the drinking tube for convenience. My boyfriend, however, still prefers to use his Camelbak. The tube sizes are different, with the Evernew tubes being smaller.

Back when we used a Sweetwater Guardian, I had a quick connect fitting on the output tube, and filling bladders was relatively simple: stop, remove bite valve, plug in output hose from pump, fill bladder, move on. Now that we're using a Sawyer Squeeze in gravity mode, there's a certain amount of fiddling about, as I have to unscrew the top of my Evernew bottle and thread the tube in, then someone has to hold the bladder steady so it doesn't tip over.

Now that Sawyer has an adaptor for its Squeeze filter, that will take care of my boyfriend's set-up--just plug into his drinking tube. I was wondering if any of the engineering types on here have any suggestions on how I could do something similar with my Evernew set-up. I think the tube maybe too small to permit me to just plug the Sawyer kit into that line, although maybe not.

A few thoughts that might be helpful:
1) Hot water makes tubes very flexible and stretchy, so you may be able to force a smaller tube onto a slightly larger barb fitting if it is dunked in boiling water first.
2) If you went Evernew for weight, but fittings are adding undesirable complications, Platapus bags are also lighter than Camelbaks and use the same size fittings and hoses as Cambelbaks.
3) Both Camelbak and Platapus sell all kinds of fittings and hoses separately so you can customize your plumbing quite extensively.

good luck

The first thing you need to do is to determine the ID (inner diameter) of the hoses you want to connect. Once you have that you can then look for the barbed hose adaptor (reducer) that will work. Some hardware stores have a sellection of barbed hose connectors but often the size sellection is limited. If you cannot find any at any local stores go online.

This site has some that might work: http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=23253&catid=465

Polyethelene and PTFE are good choices since they typically don't have BPA. Aluminum or brase hose reducers are also available. You can also get all metal fitting.

Edited by Surf on 03/09/2013 19:58:42 MST.

Good link for the connecters. You may have to buy 50 of them but it may be worth it. Send me one. I ordered a new hose which turned out to be bigger than the original.
I heated a smaller hose and stretched it over the new fitting . It pulled off the first time, soaking my bag. I redid it and it seems fine now.
I bought a Mcnett Aquamira Frontier filter, only to find that it installs on the end of your system and has a bite valve. I don't like it. It won't work inline securely.
The Sawyer works well and fits in next to my bladder. I'm a little worried that it's shape may eventually wear a hole in the bag.
I have the Geigerrig system, which I like. The pack it came with is falling apart though. They sent me a new one. Hopefully I just got a bad one. Excellent warranty coverage, but still...
I love the pump. Not too much weight depending on what one calls "too much". I'm wondering if it would work on an inflatable pad as well?
What I'm looking for are the quick connectors. Does anybody have a source?