Packing down in a rucksack

Judith said:

There's no reason why I shouldn't compress it to make it small in my
rucksack, is there?

No, but no need to compress it more than necessary. If your rucksack is
half empty then you don't need to compress it much at all. You can save
even more weight by leaving out the stuff sack. I've tried doing that
(actually I mislaid it) and simply put the sleeping bag uncompressed at the
bottom of the rucksack, then put all the other stuff on top of it. The more
you put in the more compressed it gets, but if you don't, it doesn't, so
it's self regulating. :-)

Or you could just use it to stuff into all those awkward little gaps.

I'm not really hapy with those methods though, I'd prefer to use the stuff
sack.

Paul

Judith said:

I finally bit the bullet and bought the Rab Quantum 400 bag I've been
dreaming of for years. (Thanks to www.backpackinglight.co.uk)

Good decision! Congratulations :-)

Quoted message said:

I know I should not store the bag compressed - which is why it comes
with a big cotton storage bag - but I wonder why it only came with a
stuff sack and not a compression sack?

There's no reason why I shouldn't compress it to make it small in my
rucksack, is there?

I'm sure not. However, I've read Chris Townsend saying that he simply
puts his down bag at the bottom of his rucksack, and packs the rest of
the kit in on top, relying on the weight of the rest of his things to
compress it as necessary.

If you want to squish it extra small for walking though, I'm sure
it'll be fine as long as you get it out when you get home and give it
a chance to breathe. In fact, I've even read that long-term storage of
down sacks isn't as damaging as we've been led to believe - I can't
say whether that's right or wrong though.

Congrat's again on a lovely new sleepy bag :-)

Wet fishes,
--
,,
(**)PeeWiglet~~
/ \ / \ pee AT [guessthisbit].co.uk

Peewiglet said:

In fact, I've even read that long-term storage of
down sacks isn't as damaging as we've been led to believe - I can't
say whether that's right or wrong though.

Well my Nupste vest has spent a lot of time compressed in my rucksack, and
that's definitely lost a bit of loft. I wonder if wearing it with a
rucksack flattening the back has an effect too over time.

Paul

Paul Saunders said:

Peewiglet said:

In fact, I've even read that long-term storage of
down sacks isn't as damaging as we've been led to believe - I can't
say whether that's right or wrong though.

Well my Nupste vest has spent a lot of time compressed in my rucksack, and
that's definitely lost a bit of loft. I wonder if wearing it with a
rucksack flattening the back has an effect too over time.

Quite possibly. I've got the same sleeping bag as you, and I'm not
entirely sure that the loft on mine has ever been quite as fluffy as
it was when I first received it. I may be imagining the difference,
though.

Wet fishes,
--
,,
(**)PeeWiglet~~
/ \ / \ pee AT [guessthisbit].co.uk

Peewiglet said:

Quite possibly. I've got the same sleeping bag as you, and I'm not
entirely sure that the loft on mine has ever been quite as fluffy as
it was when I first received it. I may be imagining the difference,
though.

You mean the Marmot Hydrogen? I'm sure the same thing happened to mine not
long after getting it, but since reading Peter's advice about keeping them
warm and dry, I spent some time "airing" it in a warm room and it does seem
to have regained some loft since.

Paul

The message <[email hidden]>
from Judith <[email hidden]> contains these words:

Quoted message said:

I know I should not store the bag compressed - which is why it comes
with a big cotton storage bag - but I wonder why it only came with a
stuff sack and not a compression sack?

Quoted message said:

There's no reason why I shouldn't compress it to make it small in my
rucksack, is there?

My 2 ME down bags both came with stuff sacks that are a very tight fit.
The lightline in particular stuffs down very small. While I can't recall
what they were like when new (both are 30 or more years old) I still
find the lightline too hot in summer and the redline too hot on all but
cold winters nights. I don't have any storage bags. When not in use
(which is most of the time) they hang in a wardrobe on misshapen wire
coat hangers. It doesn't appear to have done them any harm.

--
Roger Chapman so far this year 62 summits
New - 28 (Marilyns 14, Nuttalls 5, Outlying Fells 10)
Repeats - 34 (Marilyns 16, Nuttalls 24, Wainwrights 12, Outlying Fells 0)

Roger said:

My 2 ME down bags both came with stuff sacks that are a very tight fit.

They still do. The Dragon I bought earlier this year is damn near
impossible to get back in it's sack. Maybe there's an art to it, but
if there is, I haven't discovered it.

Quoted message said:

When not in use
(which is most of the time) they hang in a wardrobe on misshapen wire
coat hangers.

I don't have much room so I just throw mine on the bed.

Daytona

Peewiglet said:

I'm sure not. However, I've read Chris Townsend saying that he simply
puts his down bag at the bottom of his rucksack, and packs the rest of
the kit in on top, relying on the weight of the rest of his things to
compress it as necessary.

Works for me too. I find I can compress down "on the fly" by just
squeezing stuff in around it, so you can save the extra weight and bulk
of a compression spider. I used to use one of those, but gave up when I
worked out it didn't really make any tangibly useful difference.

Quoted message said:

If you want to squish it extra small for walking though, I'm sure
it'll be fine as long as you get it out when you get home and give it
a chance to breathe. In fact, I've even read that long-term storage of
down sacks isn't as damaging as we've been led to believe - I can't
say whether that's right or wrong though.

According to Chris (which is as good as you're likely to get as far as
advice goes) it's the initial compression that will do anything naughty,
once it's done it's fine long term *but* that does require it to have
been dry and fully aired before the packing.

If we've taken stuff with us and not used it having packed it out of the
cupboard we don't bother unpacking it when we get home, since it will
have been packed clean and aired.

What I do like for my down bag is a dry-bag to carry it in. Means even
if you fall in a river and your pack is completely submerged you'll have
a dry sleeping bag. Roos found the stuffsack for her Q600 was
ridiculously over-sized, so she just uses a drybag with a bleed valve as
the stuffsack.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Daytona said:

They still do. The Dragon I bought earlier this year is damn near
impossible to get back in it's sack. Maybe there's an art to it, but
if there is, I haven't discovered it.

Start with the foot of the bag and just stuff and stuff until there's
nothing left. Starting with the foot helps prevent airlocks. Don't
roll it, it doesn't work any better and tends to put the filling into
ridges.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

On Fri, 25 Nov 2005 09:04:32 +0000, Peter Clinch
<[email hidden]> wrote:

[...]

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

If you want to squish it extra small for walking though, I'm sure
it'll be fine as long as you get it out when you get home and give it
a chance to breathe. In fact, I've even read that long-term storage of
down sacks isn't as damaging as we've been led to believe - I can't
say whether that's right or wrong though.

According to Chris (which is as good as you're likely to get as far as
advice goes) it's the initial compression that will do anything naughty,
once it's done it's fine long term *but* that does require it to have
been dry and fully aired before the packing.

Yup, that's what I read 🙂

Quoted message said:

If we've taken stuff with us and not used it having packed it out of the
cupboard we don't bother unpacking it when we get home, since it will
have been packed clean and aired.

What I do like for my down bag is a dry-bag to carry it in. Means even
if you fall in a river and your pack is completely submerged you'll have
a dry sleeping bag.

That's what I do with mine - just in case 🙂

Quoted message said:

Roos found the stuffsack for her Q600 was
ridiculously over-sized, so she just uses a drybag with a bleed valve as
the stuffsack.

Wet fishes,
--
,,
(**)PeeWiglet~~
/ \ / \ pee AT [guessthisbit].co.uk

On Thu, 24 Nov 2005 20:33:46 +0000, Peewiglet <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

I'm sure not. However, I've read Chris Townsend saying that he simply
puts his down bag at the bottom of his rucksack, and packs the rest of
the kit in on top, relying on the weight of the rest of his things to
compress it as necessary.

Ditto. I'm fairly sure that I also read somewhere that down does
degrade over time if you go mad with the compression thing.

Peter Clinch said:

Start with the foot of the bag and just stuff and stuff until there's
nothing left. Starting with the foot helps prevent airlocks. Don't
roll it, it doesn't work any better and tends to put the filling into
ridges.

Thanks Pete, I've always rolled it because that's the way it was
delivered, so I'll give the untidy way a try instead ! :-)

Daytona