View Full Version : If I carry everything in silnylon drysacks do I need a pack cover?
If I store my sleeping bag, clothes, and food in drysacks is there really need for a packcover?
if your using the drysacks for carring on a boat, then no, plain jane silnylon sacks i say yes, because water has its way of getting into things
ritzhenson
05-21-2007, 09:26
Sil-sacks seem to be *Water-Resistant* (Not water-proof.) Peace, Ritz.
You will also be surprised how much water your pack will soak up without a pack cover. It only took me one weekend of rain to learn my lesson.
Footslogger
05-21-2007, 10:03
If I store my sleeping bag, clothes, and food in drysacks is there really need for a packcover?
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I would say YES ...but that's just me. When packcloth gets soaked it gets heavier and takes a while to dry. For the added weight of a silnylon pack cover it is worth shedding rain. The silnylon stuff sacks are "insurance".
I should add that I also use a plastic trash compactor bag as a liner inside my pack. Maybe I'm jaded ...but 2003 was a very wet year.
'Slogger
Rain Man
05-21-2007, 10:29
I ditched my pack cover in favor of putting a trash compactor bag INSIDE my pack. It doesn't blow in a strong wind, doesn't fall off, isn't subject to outside snags and abrasion, is truly water-proof on six sides (not just five), AND brightens up the inside of my pack so I can actually see down into it (no small feature).
I still use sil-nylon stuff sacks, mostly for sorting, but also for the added waterproof protection.
Rain:sunMan
.
If I store my sleeping bag, clothes, and food in drysacks is there really need for a packcover?
YES!
next question...:D
Kerosene
05-21-2007, 10:49
I also went back to a silnyl pack cover after experimenting with an inner bag. My stuff was dry, but there was a puddle of water in the bottom of my silnyl pack.
Note that silnyl in sufficiently waterproof unless it is under high pressure, such as an extremely hard rainstorm (where drops might "mist" through) or if you're lying on a silnyl floor in a puddle (in which case it may eventually wet through at the hip and shoulder).
I second the idea of a pack LINER. A trash compactor bag works well.
I find that a pack cover become a large water collector more than anything.
They also tend to wet out after a while.
Johnny Swank
05-21-2007, 12:33
I gave up on pack covers years ago. I use a gearskin knockoff, so water retension is not an issue (my pack might weigh 3 oz more if soaking wet, but the entire thing dries overnight if I unclip everything and hang it up.) There's no bottom per se with a gearskin, so water just drains out of it anyway during the day.
Silnylon's fine, but the comment about being highly water-resistant is dead on. Any that absolutley needs to stay dry needs to be put into a plastic bag (mylar turkey bags work great), then put into the silnylon sack, IMO.
DawnTreader
05-21-2007, 12:50
I use a compactor bag liner, sil nylon stuff sacks and a pack cover... I like insurance..
Blissful
05-21-2007, 13:25
My pack cover collected water on the bottom and soaked my mattress that was stored in the bottom of the pack(thankfully I had my sleeping bag in a sil nylon and a turkey bag so it did not get wet). We put grommet holes in the bottom of the sil nylon pack cover so the water can drain out - so will see how that works. As for the trash bag inside the pack, that was the first thing to go on my pack check at Neels gap. The head honcho said it was unnecessary. (?)
QHShowoman
05-21-2007, 13:42
I pack everything I am concerned about getting wet in Ziploc Bags and then throw a sil-nylon cover over my pack. I pack like items together in the Ziplocs -- so I have a ziploc for my first aid/toiletry items and my clothes. My sleeping bag goes into a Sea to Summit sil-nylon dry bag (I've used these bags while tubing, rafting, kayaking, and have never had them fail). Having different bags for my items makes it easier to find things.
I'm with the belt-and-suspenders crowd--I use a pack cover, a compactor bag liner, and silnylon stuff sacks or ZipLock bags. Yeah, the pack cover does get wet underneath after a while, but it does keep the pack itself and the things in the outside mesh pockets dryish during light to moderate rains. My best pack cover has a little drain in the bottom, which helps with the water-collection problem.
Marta/Five-Leaf