Backpacking Kit

David said:

Hi All,
I'm reviewing my backpacking kit and trying to work out whether there's
a cost-efficient means of reducing the weight.

Quoted message said:

Item Name Weight (grams) Description

Rucksack 3250 Karrimor Jaguar 75L

This can be made much less with one of the specialist lightweight
pacs.

Quoted message said:

Tent 1900 Akto

The latest version of this is 1500. The Lasers are less.

Quoted message said:

Sleeping Bag 1625 ME Snowline (old)

Do you need a Snowline for summer use?

Quoted message said:

Map case 187

What about the map you put in it? I use printouts as they are lighter.

Quoted message said:

Head torch 87

You hardly need a torch in Scotland during the the summer. I could get
by with my watch illumination.

Quoted message said:

Pen & paper 75

A bit of pencil will weigh less.

Quoted message said:

Insect repellent 50

A midge proof headnet should be less.

Quoted message said:

This lot comes to about 10kg, although I reckon my full pack probably
weighs something above15kg with other stuff like clothes, gas, food
and water.
Mainly looking at shortish (1-2 weeks) backpacking in Scotland in summer.

--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"

Ysgrifennodd "David" <[email hidden]> mewn neges
newyddion:[email hidden]...
<snip>

Quoted message said:

Item Name Weight (grams) Description

Rucksack 3250 Karrimor Jaguar 75L
Tent 1900 Akto
Sleeping Bag 1625 ME Snowline (old)
Fleece 775

My baseweight is just over 6kg, but includes at least a kilo of luxuries
(camera - 600g, gps, mp3 etc). But if i don't take them, my enjoyment is
diminished, so they have to come.

Cut down the rucsack, and you can easily cut 2kgs off your weight. I've got
a Kimmlite Mountain mover that's reasonable and i think you can get it for
less than the £100 rrp. It weighs in at just over a kilo. Unfortunately it's
orange....

New tent will be cheaper, but a lot of expense to cut 500g off your
packweight.

Just got a sleeping bag for £100 from Alpkit, pipedream, good to -3 and only
weighs 800g or so. That almost halved my sleeping bag weight, would halve
yours (£100 for 800g saving).

While we're splashing the cash, you can get a stove that weighs in at 80g or
so and costs £30 rrp called te pocket rocket. But your stove, while not
lightweight, isn't *that* heavy.

A fleece at 775 seems heavy. My pertex and primaloft coat (Montane Phleece -
500g, discontinued) is a few hundred grams lighter than that, and there are
down ones even lighter (but overkill in summer). In summer, a single warm
layer should be enough, mabye a thinner fleece?

Waterproof at 500g. Using a relatively waterproof windproof and a
lightweight shell for the absolute downpours is an alternative. Still, my
windproof of choice (Paramo Fuera) weighs 300g and the shell 180g. Lighter
shells are availab,e like the Montane ones - which can be bought cheap. Go
outdors had them in for £20. The 180 smock from Montane can be had cheap
(discontinued) http://www.cotswoldoutdoor.com/Cat/119483?Ref= . Don't know
how durable they'd be with constant wear of the straps mind. MAbye this is
one place where losing the weight wouldn't be for the best! OK if you're
going overnight, where a shell isn't likely to fail overnight, but might
with constant prolonged use.

One thing though, whatever you spend on the lightest item, a lighter one
will be along soon.

T Dave R

p.s. bit more rantings on how i lowered my gear weight can be found in the
link below. I've not updated it sice i've had my new bag, cooker and pot
(still awaiting delivery!).
http://www.walkeryri.org.uk/Other/lightweight.htm

--

What hills have i been up recently?
www.walkeryri.org.uk

GO outdoors link - and a lovely bit of kit it is too!

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/products.asp?recnumber=1637

"Dafydd Ap Arwyn" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Ysgrifennodd "David" <[email hidden]> mewn neges
newyddion:[email hidden]...
<snip>

Quoted message said:

Item Name Weight (grams) Description

Rucksack 3250 Karrimor Jaguar 75L
Tent 1900 Akto
Sleeping Bag 1625 ME Snowline (old)
Fleece 775

My baseweight is just over 6kg, but includes at least a kilo of luxuries
(camera - 600g, gps, mp3 etc). But if i don't take them, my enjoyment is
diminished, so they have to come.

Cut down the rucsack, and you can easily cut 2kgs off your weight. I've
got a Kimmlite Mountain mover that's reasonable and i think you can get it
for less than the £100 rrp. It weighs in at just over a kilo.
Unfortunately it's orange....

New tent will be cheaper, but a lot of expense to cut 500g off your
packweight.

Just got a sleeping bag for £100 from Alpkit, pipedream, good to -3 and
only weighs 800g or so. That almost halved my sleeping bag weight, would
halve yours (£100 for 800g saving).

While we're splashing the cash, you can get a stove that weighs in at 80g
or so and costs £30 rrp called te pocket rocket. But your stove, while not
lightweight, isn't *that* heavy.

A fleece at 775 seems heavy. My pertex and primaloft coat (Montane
Phleece - 500g, discontinued) is a few hundred grams lighter than that,
and there are down ones even lighter (but overkill in summer). In summer,
a single warm layer should be enough, mabye a thinner fleece?

Waterproof at 500g. Using a relatively waterproof windproof and a
lightweight shell for the absolute downpours is an alternative. Still, my
windproof of choice (Paramo Fuera) weighs 300g and the shell 180g. Lighter
shells are availab,e like the Montane ones - which can be bought cheap. Go
outdors had them in for £20. The 180 smock from Montane can be had cheap
(discontinued) http://www.cotswoldoutdoor.com/Cat/119483?Ref= . Don't know
how durable they'd be with constant wear of the straps mind. MAbye this is
one place where losing the weight wouldn't be for the best! OK if you're
going overnight, where a shell isn't likely to fail overnight, but might
with constant prolonged use.

One thing though, whatever you spend on the lightest item, a lighter one
will be along soon.

T Dave R

p.s. bit more rantings on how i lowered my gear weight can be found in the
link below. I've not updated it sice i've had my new bag, cooker and pot
(still awaiting delivery!).
http://www.walkeryri.org.uk/Other/lightweight.htm

--

What hills have i been up recently?
www.walkeryri.org.uk

David said:

Hi All,
I'm reviewing my backpacking kit and trying to work out whether there's
a cost-efficient means of reducing the weight.

Me too, so I've put my weights below for comparison. I'm toying with
getting a new rucksack although I have been warned that some of the
ultralite sacks don't have/give much support.

For the TGO challenge next month [Gulp! It's next month!] I am mainly
staying in hostels/B&Bs but have a few nights camping. I have decided
to take only my Akto flysheet (not the inner) and to use my old
rollmat rather than my Thermarest. I do like comfort when camping but
have decided that, for this set of circumstances, I would rather have
the reduced weight than extra comfort.

I'm going to splash a bit of money on some frivolous lightweight gear
eg LED headtorch, but it sounds like your smaller items are all quite
light anyway.

Quoted message said:

Item Name Weight (grams) Description

Rucksack 3250 Karrimor Jaguar 75L

Blimey, I thought my Jaguar 65litre was heavy: 1850

Quoted message said:

Tent 1900 Akto

Your Akto seems heavier than mine. Mine was advertised at 1700g but
is a touch under.

Quoted message said:

Sleeping Bag 1625 ME Snowline (old)

Rab Quantum 400: 850g in stuff sack. Expensive but if you need a new
bag it's a big weight saving.

Quoted message said:

Fleece 775

I take a microfleece jumper 254g. My Montane smock (ie what I wear
instead of a fleece) weighs 500g

Quoted message said:

Waterproof top 625

Lowe Alpine Triple Point Ceramic jacket: 625g

Quoted message said:

Sleeping Mat 525 Thermarest 3/4

My Thermarest ultralite 3/4 complete with stuff sack and repair kit is
530g. I could save 55g by not taking the sack or repair kit.

Quoted message said:

Sleeping bag liner 300

Silk liner: 208g

Quoted message said:

waterproof trousers 187

225g in stuff sack

Quoted message said:

Map case 187

My ortlieb mapcase is 65g. I reckon a Land Ranger is 110g but
removing the cardboard cover should make it a bit lighter.

Quoted message said:

Radio 175

My radio: 110g

Quoted message said:

Stove 162

Pocket Rocket: 85g. Full cannister: 360g

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Cooking pot 137

Titanium pan and lid: 120g + 70g

Quoted message said:

Head torch 87

Petzl Micro: 150g

Quoted message said:

Pen & paper 75

Hm? Something I haven't weighed!

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Cup 50

60g

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Insect repellent 50

40g

Judith

I assume you're aware of the gearweight calculator s/w (its a freebie)
http://www.chrisibbeson.com/pages/GearWeightCalculator.html

Your list doesn't seem to be exhaustive. It doesn't include a minimal
first aid kit or washing kit, spare batteries, water bottle, cutlery,
spare clothes, trowel (you know what it's for!) - to name just some of
the items I include.

Like most folk, I've accumulated lots of gear and have weighed
_everything_ I'm likely to carry. I've put it all into a MySql database
and have a Perl script that takes a text list of items I propose for a
trip and prints a check list with the item weights and total. Probably
overkill but I mainly did it because I could!

BTW, turkey roasting bags make great strong, lightweight and waterproof
kit bags.

Jim Ford

"Judith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

David said:

Hi All,
I'm reviewing my backpacking kit and trying to work out whether
there's
a cost-efficient means of reducing the weight.

Me too, so I've put my weights below for comparison. I'm toying with
getting a new rucksack although I have been warned that some of the
ultralite sacks don't have/give much support.

That's my concern. I'd really like a lighter rucksack, but it's getting
something that going to provide reasonable comfort with less weight. I
recently had a hands-on look at some Go Lite and Gregory lightweight packs.
IMO, these had inadequate padding on the weight bearing points ie. hip belt
and shoulder straps. No doubt many people will disagree, but the only
Gregory pack I saw which had a 'good' level of padding and 'decent' straps
was the Acadia, which comes in at 2.6kg and £150, which represents a poor
kg/pounds improvement for me over the Karrimor Jaguar anyway.

Please prove me wrong and offer alternatives!!.

And what about cheaper sacks?. Blacks have a model called the Tundra (65
litres), which comes in at £70 and 2.2kg?.

Dave

David said:

No doubt many people will disagree, but the only
Gregory pack I saw which had a 'good' level of padding and 'decent' straps
was the Acadia, which comes in at 2.6kg and £150, which represents a poor
kg/pounds improvement for me over the Karrimor Jaguar anyway.

Please prove me wrong and offer alternatives!!.

I've heard good reports of the Osprey range - but I've not seen one
for myself.

Quoted message said:

And what about cheaper sacks?. Blacks have a model called the Tundra (65
litres), which comes in at £70 and 2.2kg?.

My 25 litre pack, ie daysack, is a Blacks own-brand and is smashing so
I wouldn't write off the brand because it is "cheap". That one would
be a 1kg weight-saving for you which MUST be noticeable, IMO.

When I did a bit if research into packs, it turned out that some
people regarded my Jaguar as heavy and some said it was reasonably
light considering how comfortable I find it - so I'll probably stay
with it until it falls apart.

I saved almost 600g by buying the Rab Q400 sleeping bag. I've made
other savings by using my Platypus rather than my bomb-proof MOD water
bottle. I'm on the lookup for a lighter trowel and, as I said, will
be getting an LED headtorch. I think I now take only the clothes I
NEED and have a very basic toiletries kit. The little things do make
a difference but only if you don't waste weight on the big things.

Judith

"Judith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Judith

If its any help, my brother managed to get his entire pack for the last TGO
he did down to less than 10Kg but then he is the sad type that will drill
holes in his spoon to reduce weight. I think I have his weights somewhere
but I think he may have regretted certain choices that lattelry he would
accept the extra weight for less probs e.g. Go-lite Gust rucksack great but
very diffciult to wear and would have probably been happier with a few extra
grams on a lightweight pack by another manufacturer with more pockets and
straps(I watched him cut of all the labels and so on, that's how sad he
gets) or he had some waterproof trousers from the States that looked like
Jeyes Cloths but were slightly more reliable(unless you spilt tuna on them)
which caused him annoyance every time the Scottish weather changed from rain
to sun or back again and he had to go through a five minute boots off,
trousers on or off and then boots on deal.

Rob Devereux said:

"Judith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Judith

If its any help, my brother managed to get his entire pack for the
last TGO he did down to less than 10Kg but then he is the sad type
that will drill holes in his spoon to reduce weight.

Doesn't that make it terribly difficult to eat your soup?

Chris
--
Chris Eilbeck

"Chris Eilbeck" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Rob Devereux said:

"Judith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Judith

If its any help, my brother managed to get his entire pack for the
last TGO he did down to less than 10Kg but then he is the sad type
that will drill holes in his spoon to reduce weight.

Doesn't that make it terribly difficult to eat your soup?

Not if its chunky minestrone.

In article <[email hidden]>, Chris Eilbeck
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Rob Devereux said:

"Judith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Judith

If its any help, my brother managed to get his entire pack for the
last TGO he did down to less than 10Kg but then he is the sad type
that will drill holes in his spoon to reduce weight.

Doesn't that make it terribly difficult to eat your soup?

Chris

Nah! You've just got to be damned quick. :-)
--
Bill Grey
http://www.billboy.co.uk

David said:

Hi All,
I'm reviewing my backpacking kit and trying to work out whether there's
a cost-efficient means of reducing the weight. I've grabbed a selection of
items from my cupboard and put them on a pair of scales to see what they
weigh. Never done this before - I usually just pick the items up, stuff them
in the rucksack and then swear at how damn heavy it feels. I thought I'd
take a more scientific approach this time.
Anyway, I'd be interested in people's views as to whether there are any
items that are obviously 'over-weight', but I should say that I don't want
to sacrifice too much comfort. What's the best 'weight per pound' item that
I could purchase to reduce the overall weight?.

Item Name Weight (grams) Description

Rucksack 3250 Karrimor Jaguar 75L
Tent 1900 Akto
Sleeping Bag 1625 ME Snowline (old)
Fleece 775
Waterproof top 625
Sleeping Mat 525 Thermarest 3/4
Sleeping bag liner 300
waterproof trousers 187
Map case 187
Radio 175
Stove 162
Cooking pot 137
Head torch 87
Pen & paper 75
Cup 50
Insect repellent 50

This lot comes to about 10kg, although I reckon my full pack probably weighs
something above15kg with other stuff like clothes, gas, food and water.
Mainly looking at shortish (1-2 weeks) backpacking in Scotland in summer.

Ta in advance,
Dave

Ditch the tent and take a bivi bag and/or tarp. Take one (and only one)
change of clothes. Otherwise, just be ruthless & try it out beforehand,
so you'll know what you need and what you don't.

I tested out my lightweight weekend backpacking set-up last weekend:
Stove
Clothes (trousers, socks, t-shirt, jumper, hat, gloves)
4 season down bag (field & trek were doing them recently for about £70)
Hammock & tarp.
Gas stove, 2x pots, cutlery
Food
First aid kit
Water filter
Sigg bottle
Mug
Bushcraft kit (Knife, saw, whetstone, firesticks, paracord)
Map, case, compass, pencil
Head torch.
.....in a 32L daysack.

Not sure the weight, but I guess around the 7-8kg mark. A big saving
simply on having to carry less rucksack. Obviously hammock & tarp (about
1Kg all-up) is only any good if you've got some suitable trees. Possibly
could have done with a few more clothes, given the wetness of the
weekend, but otherwise, a very lightweight & comfy setup. Fantastic for
summer. Almost for the first time ever, I used everything apart from the
1st aid.

headnet wouldn't cover your legs with lightweight shorts rather than
trouser - or arms etc.

i don't really think a watch light is a suitable replacement for a
torch either!

urlhttp://www.thehelmets.co.uk/url said:

headnet wouldn't cover your legs with lightweight shorts rather than
trouser - or arms etc.

But since you are going to be carrying long sleeves and trousers in
any case...

Quoted message said:

i don't really think a watch light is a suitable replacement for a
torch either!

In Scotland in Summer? Let me see if we take summer as ending at the
end of August with sunrise at 6.20 and sunset at 20.15 the amount of
daylight is surely enough for any walk. I find I don't need a torch in
my tent at night, the light on my watch is perfectly adequate for
finding whatever it is I need in the small hours on a moonless night.
--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"

....and what happens if something happens and you're stuck out in the
dark... i.e. get lost / have an accident

.... say you were camping and something happened outside -maybe a loose
guy line or something... you suggest you could find a tent pge by watch
light?

As regards the sleeves and trousers, well I may have them in my bag,
but if its a scorching day with midges I'd rather have the shorts and
midge rep. than have the long trsr on.

Incidentally, LAMRT also sugegst a torch to be essential kit:
http://www.lamrt.org.uk/staysafe.html

Incidentally, LAMRT also sugegst a torch to be essential kit:
http://www.lamrt.org.uk/staysafe.html

Incidentally, LAMRT also sugegst a torch to be essential kit:
http://www.lamrt.org.uk/staysafe.html