Hanging your tent and sleeping bag

[tucker0104]

What is the best way to attach your sleeping bag and tent to your backpack. I know every backpack is different. Right now I have a 3250 kelty with some kind of loops on the bottim to run straps through to attach stuff but it doesn't seem like it will hold it tight enough. I just got back from a two day 23 mile hike and had my Hubba Hubba and Sierra Desihn sleeping bag attached to the top of my bag and that caused it to dig into my shoulders real bad. Any ideas? How does everyone else do it?

[Jack Tarlin]

Well, for starters, a lot of folks have bigger packs!

First off, have you considered a compression bag that would decrease the packed size of your bag and might permit you to carry it inside your pack?

Usuing straps at either the top or bottom of your pack usually works, as long as you pull them tight enough. I suggest that you also get a small carabinier and clip the tent or sleeping bag (thru one of the loops) so that if your gear escapes the pack and drops off while you're hiking, you'll realize that it's gone. It's funny to think that you might not notice, but I've seen people who arrived in camp at day's end tentless or bagless because their gear fell off without their noticing. So have a back-up attachment system.

Lastly, if you fold up your tent and pack fly separately, you might in fact discover that they fit inside your pack. Most folks always leave their tent parts packed up together, so it forms a tube roughly 14-20 inches long and six across, which they think is too big to be carried INSIDE the pack. If you pack the pieces separately, you just might discover that you don't have to carry them outside the pack at all, which would solve one of your problems right there.

[JAK]

I use a JAM2 and pack everything inside the main pack or back pocket except what I am wearing, and what I am carrying in the bottle carriers. Even my full sized blue foam pad goes inside my pack, rolled up vertically with everything stuffed down inside of it, not too tight. I don't use the compression straps. I might even remove them, but they are handy sometimes depending on what I might be carrying in the bottle holders. Haven't found the right place for my Kelly Kettle yet. It doesn't quite fit the back pocket or bottle holders when the pack is full.

[Two Speed]

Currently using a Kelty Whisper* as my "large" bag and it probably has the same lash tabs as your pack.

I like my sleeping bag inside the pack to protect it from rain. I strap my shelter, a Lunar Solo, to the bottom lash tabs. My take is the tabs that Kelty puts on the bottom of their bags really doesn't handle much over two pounds very well, and 1 1/2 pounds is more like it.

* The Whisper is supposed to be 2,500 CI, but compared to another 2,000 CI pack I use for short trips the Whisper seems to have a far larger available volume. Some day I'm gonna figure out how Kelty computes the volume of their bags. :cool:

[Blissful]

What is the best way to attach your sleeping bag and tent to your backpack. I know every backpack is different. Right now I have a 3250 kelty with some kind of loops on the bottim to run straps through to attach stuff but it doesn't seem like it will hold it tight enough. I just got back from a two day 23 mile hike and had my Hubba Hubba and Sierra Desihn sleeping bag attached to the top of my bag and that caused it to dig into my shoulders real bad. Any ideas? How does everyone else do it?


Just curious why you are carrying a two man tent vs just the hubba? (are there two of you?) Kind of heavy and bulky right there, though it's a nice tent.

Agree, I would try to get your sleeping bag inside your pack with a compression sack. But you have a very small pack, esp for winter gear and hard to wrestle a synthetic bag in there with low enough temp rating for winter. Might consider a down bag.

[River Runner]

Preferably get a pack large enough to put all your gear inside, with a rear pocket that a wet tent can go into so it won't get everything in the pack damp. A pack with side or rear compressions straps that the tent can go under to be carried vertically instead of horizontally can work too, if you can balance the weight out evenly.

Things hanging from the bottom of the pack just seem awkward to me.

[tucker0104]

I am thinking that my 3250 isn't big enough and I should just get a bigger bag to fit my sleeping bag in and then strap my tent to the outside. How does that sound?

[Appalachian Tater]

I am thinking that my 3250 isn't big enough and I should just get a bigger bag to fit my sleeping bag in and then strap my tent to the outside. How does that sound?

It should be big enough for "three-season" hiking if you aren't carrying a lot of unnecessary or bulky stuff. How big is your sleeping bag? If you have already eliminated all the junk then you need a bigger pack.

I like to keep the bag in the pack where it is safe from rain and the tent on the outside so it can be set up in the rain without opening my pack. If it is raining in the morning it goes on the outside of the ready-to-go pack so the stuff inside doesn't get wet.

[AT-HITMAN2005]

use jack's idea of a compression sack on the tent too.

[NICKTHEGREEK]

use jack's idea of a compression sack on the tent too.
A compression sack works almost as good on a tent as it does on a bowling ball.

[River Runner]

A compression sack works almost as good on a tent as it does on a bowling ball.

Tee-hee. That's a good one. :D

[AT-HITMAN2005]

A compression sack works almost as good on a tent as it does on a bowling ball.

if he is using the stuff sack that came with the tent and trying to figure out how to fit it in his pack then a compression sack will help. i know with the hubba and hubba hubba there is a lot of extra space in the stuff sack it comes with.

[dpage]

i use a water'proof compression sack for the army surplus sleeping bag and load it on the "top" outside of my pack, b4 my HH i kept my tent wraped in my cfp and had it on the "bottom" outside of my pack

[Purple Hayes]

I personaly try to keep everything inside my pack for water protection. Also things on the outside tend to get caught on stuff as you pass by and make my pack awkward and of balance. Inside I can really sinch my straps down to compress and keep the load from shifting. This make for easier travel and a smoother trip.

[saimyoji]

If my tent is wet at all it gets strapped to the pack, if you're worried about snags, put your pack cover over it. If your pack cover doesn't cover the stuff lashed to the outside, you need a bigger pack cover.

[troglobil]

I found the best way to compress my tent ( either the Hubba or the Hubba Hubba, whichever I need) is to pack the pole seperate from the rest of the tent. I bought a NorthFace Tadpole 23 stuff sack to put the tent in.. It has three straps spaced evenly along the sack the can really get the tent down to a small size.