Silnylon pack cover or not?

[Dogginfox]

I need a pack cover its the lonly piece of gear i lack, How durable are the silnylon covers compared to the regular?

[Footslogger]

I've got both type and carried a silnylon one all the way from Springer to Katahdin in 2003. No doubt the silnylon ones are more prone to puncture and abrasion but If you are the least bit careful it shouldn't be a problem. Mine is still going strong.

That said ...I wouldn't count on a pack cover (of any material) to do the entire job of keeping things dry inside your pack. Consider using a bag liner such as a plastic trash compactor bag.

'Slogger

[stag3]

That said ...I wouldn't count on a pack cover (of any material) to do the entire job of keeping things dry inside your pack. Consider using a bag liner such as a plastic trash compactor bag.

'Slogger


Slogger's right on. I found out the hard way that "things" leak. So, I use a pack cover and then put everything that's fabric (like clothes and the sleeping bag) in the big ziplocks. I got rid of the fabric stuff sacks in favor of the ziplocks. Plus, when I stuff my sleeping bag into the ziplock, I just sit on it and have great compression--lot quicker than a stuff sack.

Stag3

[Kerosene]

I tried substituting a pack liner for a pack cover, but even in a gentle rain I ended up with puddles in the bottom of my pack. I'm going to keep my silnyl pack cover (3 oz.) but I still use zip-locks and silnyl stuff sacks for clothing, and double-bag my sleeping bag.

[Tipi Walter]

On the AT a flimsy silnylon pack cover will work, but most other trails are obstacle courses of jabbing rhododendron and briars and even the heavyweight covers get poked.

Unless you plan not to hike in the rain, you gotta do something about keeping your stuff dry. Everyone knows you need a good waterproof stuffsack for your sleeping bag and whiile others things can get "moist", with a good sack your bag should stay dry.

My backpacking technique is different than the mileage obsessed, at the first real sign of rain I depack and cover it with a nice stout packcover. If the rain looks to be a hard all day deluge, I'll stop at the first good campsite and call it a day. Why pump nylon all day in the rain? AT backpackers though are a driven bunch and feel they must make miles at all cost but you don't have to be one of them. So what if the trail takes 12 months instead of 6? Go halfway in 6 months and come back later for another 6 months.

[TurkeyBacon]

Silnylon will work just fine (as already posted). Make shure to add drain holes. If you do not add drain holes, water will collect at the bottom and soak the bottom of your pack. Drain holes prevent this. Simply fold the fabric over and VERY carelfully burn a small hole in it by placing the flame next to the fold.
TB

[Appalachian Tater]

The fact that you have to have drain holes show they don't work too well. I used a GG packcover and it didn't keep the rain out. A heavy-duty plastic bag inside works better at keeping your stuff dry. I also put a plastic bag over the backpack and used the useless pack cover to hold it in place. You can buy a lot of plastic bags for the $25 or so a cover would cost.

[GlazeDog]

Yep and Yep.

GlazeDog

[TurkeyBacon]

"I also put a plastic bag over the backpack and used the useless pack cover to hold it in place"
So you are still using the pack cover, not all that useless...
In a perfect world all your stuff will stay bone dry with little hassle, but its not a perfect world. A pack cover is one more peice to the puzzle at keeping things dry. Keeping you sleeping bag in a waterproof bag (garbage bag inside a stuff sack), your clothes in a coated fabric stuff sack and your tent outside your bag are all usefull peices in the puzzle as well. I also use two long straps around the whole backpack and rain cover to keep the rain cover in place. The straps keep it closer to the pack, prevent wind problems and allow packing wet things like rain gear, tents, foam rolls outside the rain cover.
So are rain covers perfect, nope. Do they help enough to pack, I beleive so but its up to you. Is silnylon durable enough, absolutely.
TB

[Mouse]

I used a silnylon packcover on my thruhike and it is still going. I did find some water tended to find itself in from the front, having run down between my body and my pack. Not nearly as much as with no cover at all. Everything in my pack was in silnylon stuff sacks so that was not a big problem.