Introduction: Stronger, Cooler, More Comfortable Water Bottle

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About: I like flying, tinkering, origami, engineering, art, camping, life hacking, winning souls for Christ, and getting things to work the first time around.

Here's a quick mod that works with any water bottle with a loop (like in the picture). It makes it more durable, more comfortable to hold (the bare plastic can get kinda annoying), and also looks much cooler than a lame, un-hacked bottle.

Step 1: Materials

Your going to need a water bottle (duh) with a loop like the one in the picture. In addition, it needs a ridge near the mouth (look closely in the picture, the ridge is keeping the loop in place below the lid). You will need about 3.5 ft of paracord, maybe a little more depending on the size of the loop, and a lighter to fuse it.

Step 2: Starting Off

Wrap the paracord below the ridge as shown.

Step 3: Cobra Stitch

Follow the pictures to make a cobra stitch around the loop.

Step 4: More Cobra Stitching

Now do the same thing again, but mirrored.

Step 5: Keep Going....

Now that you have the basic idea, keep weaving until you get to the end of the loop. Remember to alternate which cord goes over and which goes under, or you will get a funky DNA shape; really cool, but not practical for this purpose.

Step 6: Finishing Up

When you get to the very end of the loop, undo the weaving on the last segment, as shown in the first picture. Now stick the two cords under it, and tighten. If you have trouble tightening it enough, try using pliers. Cut the cord and fuse REALLY well to seal the weave. You now have a macho hacked mountain-tough water bottle that won't cut off blood flow to your fingers when you hold it.