View Full Version : Base weight and Choosing pack
Someone asked this in another thread but it never got answered.
When you are choosing a pack. Do you include the pack's weight in your base weight? For instance if you are trying to figure out if you can get the vapor trail and your weight should not be over 25 pounds...does this mean your total weight Not including the pack itself should not be over 25, or does it mean that your weight should not be over 23 pounds since the pack itself weights 2 pounds?
Hope this makes sense.
MTS
The latter. Base weight (and the weight you want to stay under if your pack has weight carrying recommendations) includes the weight of the pack.
If you're "on the edge" of a manufacturer's recommended max weight for a pack, I would go with the next pack up in weight capacity.
take-a-knee
11-03-2007, 00:15
The "Big Three" (3 heaviest items) are:
1) Pack
2) Sleeping Gear
3) Shelter
SGT Rock
11-03-2007, 07:18
Someone asked this in another thread but it never got answered.
When you are choosing a pack. Do you include the pack's weight in your base weight? For instance if you are trying to figure out if you can get the vapor trail and your weight should not be over 25 pounds...does this mean your total weight Not including the pack itself should not be over 25, or does it mean that your weight should not be over 23 pounds since the pack itself weights 2 pounds?
Hope this makes sense.
MTS
I would go with the second since the pack weight is part of what the suspension has to deal with.
awesome, thanks. I was never really clear on that.
I was just using the VT as an example, though I am considering getting the ozone eventually. It's really a matter of whether I can fit everything in the ozone more so than weight.
MTS
CoyoteWhips
11-03-2007, 10:11
Well, that all makes sense. When you're weighing your pack, you don't take everything out of it first for a tare. You just put the whole thing on the hook.
I was just using the VT as an example, though I am considering getting the ozone eventually. It's really a matter of whether I can fit everything in the ozone more so than weight.
I'd suggest that, for long-distance hiking, you'd better be able to fit all your gear into a Nimbus Ozone. If you can't, you're carrying too much stuff. But I'll add a few qualifications:
three-season (not necessarily winter) hiking
a decent quality down bag that compresses well
You may need to carry your tent outside the packThe Nimbus Ozone and Vapor Trail both have a spindrift collar to accomodate plenty of volume. They're simple, sturdy, no-frills packs and both work well within their weight limits.
Tent and sleeping pad can pose a bit of a challenge. I chose to keep my Thermarest inside the pack, and carried my Tarptent (Rainbow) outside the pack. Easy to do with either of these packs.
AT-HITMAN2005
11-03-2007, 10:18
i use the vapor trail. only thing i keep on the outside of my pack is my tent poles(hubba), 2 nalgenes, and 22 oz. white gas bottle(i know its big but i didn't know any better back then).
everything else fit inside just fine.
layered it like this:
rain gear, stove, filter, snacks, miscelanous little stuff(top)
food bag
tent
sleeping bag
thermarest prolite 3(all the way at the bottom)
i use the water bladder holder thing for my journal and various other small things that don't need through out the day.
When it's raining, there's a practical and tactical advantage to having the tent outside the pack. ;) I'm a bit leery of separating the tent poles from the tent itself, but that's just me.
The "Big Three" (3 heaviest items) are:
1) Pack
2) Sleeping Gear
3) Shelter
Well, yes and no. :) Three liters of water plus three days worth of food can easily swamp the combined weight of the above items.
It's important to think about "base weight" but let's not kid ourselves. Food and water are heavy!
I think a pack should be capable of carrying 20 times its own weight, so it doesn't need to be much more than 10% of your base weight. Your food and water on the other hand can equal or exceed your base weight. Base weight is not much use in choosing a pack. In fact, I don't think base weight is much use for any purpose. Total weight on feet is what matters.
yeah, a new pack will be the last thing I get...which makes sense. Next couple things is a bag and tent..prob WM.
For those of you who use a thermarest. If you carry it inside your pack, do you roll it up and put in in it's stuff sack or do you fold it up and put it on the bottom? I can't decide what to do. It's really bulky.
AT-HITMAN2005
11-03-2007, 20:48
i tried a couple techniques out through out my thru-hike. i started off with it rolled up around my tent poles, outside my pack in the middle, under the compression straps.(its a vapor trail) then i switched to folding it up and sticking it all the way at the bottom. this worked best for me.
Blissful
11-03-2007, 21:02
I put my air core on the bottom. Try to deflate it as best you can. That's the way Winton at Neels Gap showed me to pack it. Then sleeping bag. My clothes bag. My cocoon pillows in a stuff sack. :) my share of food. My rain jacket and liner stuffed in the crannies in the sides. Food bag. My library bag and Montbell jackets in its stuff sack. Toiletries and meds in the top pocket - sometimes a short sleeve shirt or beanie. I also had a platypus. And I carried a front pouch for daily snacks, map, small roll of TP, and a camera. Outside front pocket of pack was tent poles, a soda bottle of water, and my seat cushion. I used a women's Gregory Jade the 2nd half of the hike - 3000 cubic inches
For those of you who use a thermarest. If you carry it inside your pack, do you roll it up and put in in it's stuff sack or do you fold it up and put it on the bottom?
I have a Prolite 3 shorty. Carried inside the pack, rolled up fairly tight. The roll is about 2" in diameter.
AT-HITMAN2005
11-03-2007, 21:16
what pack do you use terrapin?
what pack do you use terrapin?
Nimbus Ozone for this summer's hike.
When it's raining, there's a practical and tactical advantage to having the tent outside the pack. ;) I'm a bit leery of separating the tent poles from the tent itself, but that's just me.
Would you mind elaborating? Please excuse my ignorance,I'm pretty new to the whole long distance hiking thing.
.
Would you mind elaborating? Please excuse my ignorance,I'm pretty new to the whole long distance hiking thing.
I think he just means that if your tent is on the outside of your pack and it's raining, you don't have to go through your pack trying to get the tent out and getting everything wet inside your pack.
That's what I though, however sometimes the obvious eludes me.