6 liter Platypus water bag question

I was wondering if anyone knows if you can purchase a hose and use this water storage bag as a hydration bladder while on the trail. I think it is possible, but would like confirmation. Also, do any of you use this? Pros and cons? Thanks in advance!

I use their 2 ltr bag/hose combo in my pack and for road cycling with good success. 6 ltr sounds like a lot to carry in one bag though. If I had to carry that much to cover a long dry section I think I'd break it up so I didn't lose it all in case of a bag/hose failure.

Yes, they do list a drink tube kit on the Cascade Desgns website , but I agree with LoneStranger that two or three smaller bags are better than one large. Unless you're always in the desert, most of the time you won't need to carry one or at the most two liters at a time. Even if it's dry the whole day, four liters (a little over a gallon) should be enough unless you're going to have a dry camp as well.

In an area with frequent water sources, you can save a lot of weight by getting water several times per day instead of trying to carry a whole day's water at once. At 2 pounds per liter, 6 liters are a lot of weight! It also helps to get a good drink at the water source, better known as "cameling up." Up high in the Rockies or Cascades, I often don't carry more than a half-liter at a time.

Another problem with one large bag is that if you drop it when full, it's far more apt to burst than a smaller bag (been there, done that, brand new Platy 3-liter bag, easy to drop when full and slippery). I'd suggest 2 or, at the most, 3 two-liter bags instead. The ones you don't need can be rolled up to take basically no room in your pack.

I'd second (third?) what LoneStranger and OregonMouse say. I use one of those 6-liter bags when I need to cache water, or transport water to a trailhead or a car camp, but I'm hesitant to use them on the trail - particularly to trust all my water to them - because of that long zip-loc closure on the top. It just seems like user error, or a bit of dirt caught in the track, could lead to a zipper failure and you're left wondering what's dripping onto your legs and why your sleeping bag is soaked.

Also, like they say, 3 of the 2-liter bags give you insurance in case one bag should develop a hole. Multiple bags also give you the option of moving some of the water load around in your pack to help balance it as you eat food or clothing goes in and out of the pack during the day.

I feel a bit like I'm piling on, but like everyone else, I also prefer the 1 or 2 liter platypus's (or is it platypi). Gives me more flexibility, redundancy, and I have a more accurate estimate on how much water I am carrying.

For clarity, I mostly backpack in the western half of the US.

Same as the others, I use my 6L Platy in camp, but not on the trail. I've packed it full once when I was going to a dry area, and it's not something I want to do again if I can help it. It was ridiculously heavy, and I wasn't sure the zip-lock closure would hold (it did however).