EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is an excerpt of an report by Wes Siler for Outside magazine. Read the full report here.

How do you carry water when you go camping? Disposable water bottles are terrible for the environment. Big water containers are difficult to pour, challenging to carry, and tough to fit into your vehicle. And, beyond providing drinking water, none of the above are optimized for common tasks like brushing teeth, cleaning dishes, or washing your hands. What if there was a better way?  Water Bottles With Custom Logo

That’s a question that’s been on Owen Mesdag’s mind for years. Formerly a product designer at Mountain Safety Research (MSR), he helped create surprisingly useful tools in other often overlooked categories. Mesdag created the first touchscreen-compatible, waterproof case for smartphones, in sync with the launch of the original iPhone. At MSR, he adapted a military water filter design to hydration bladders, allowing you to just suck on the hose, and filter as you drink. He once spent six months, and took two trips to Thailand, just to find the perfect tine thickness for a fork. 

So he didn’t shy away from the challenge of water storage. “The problem is most liquid containers were designed for gasoline, not water,” says Mesdag. 

Most of the typical water jugs you’ll find at an outdoors store are at least partially based on Jerry cans—a five-gallon metal fuel canister designed for the German army in World War Two. As that design’s utter ubiquity suggests, they’re great at providing bulk storage of liquids in a container that can be carried and poured by a single soldier. But going camping shouldn’t feel like boot camp. 

Mesdag’s new job is designing friendly, accessible car camping gear for Swedish brand Dometic. There, he’s tasked with removing barriers to entry, and making the outdoors more comfortable for hardcore and casual campers alike. His new water jugs ($70) and water faucet ($100) embody that approach. 

Read the full report here.

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