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View Full Version : Zpack Blast Food Bag - How Rodent Resistant?



Chair-man
08-31-2013, 21:13
How rodent resistant is the Zpack Blast Food Bag? Anyone have any bad experience with one of these? Zpack Blast (http://www.zpacks.com/accessories/bear_bag.shtml)

mtnkngxt
08-31-2013, 21:21
It's cuben fiber so it isn't rodent proof or resistant really if they can get to it. Hang your bag or take it in your tent.

Chair-man
08-31-2013, 21:54
It's cuben fiber so it isn't rodent proof or resistant really if they can get to it. Hang your bag or take it in your tent.

Well, if you click on the link I posted above the manufacture says this.
The material is even rodent resistant-
"On several occasions I've seen mice check out my Blast food bag and eventually give up. I let one persistent mouse chew on it for the entire night- by morning he had done some minor damage but did not get into my food."

Kerosene
09-01-2013, 00:00
I use it to try to deter rodents, but it certainly isn't fool-proof.

jeffmeh
09-01-2013, 08:46
I use it to try to deter rodents, but it certainly isn't fool-proof.

+1. Cuben will not likely be the mouse's first choice, but if determined enough the mouse will chew through it.

Violent Green
09-01-2013, 19:30
How rodent resistant is the Zpack Blast Food Bag? Anyone have any bad experience with one of these? Zpack Blast (http://www.zpacks.com/accessories/bear_bag.shtml)

0% rodent proof. I was in the Smokies 3-4 weeks ago and had a mouse chew through BOTH pockets on my Zpacks Zero backpack in less than an hour. The Zero was made of hybrid cuben fiber which is 50d polyester laminated to 1.43 oz cuben(the same cuben as the food bag). If you want rodent proof you will need kevlar, spectra or stainless mesh. It's possible some of the heavier cubens are rodent proof, but certainly not the Zpacks bag.

Ryan

leaftye
09-01-2013, 20:22
No fabric is going to be truly rodent proof. If you give them enough time, they'll get through any fabric. My full spectra Ursack had tiny holes in it after I left it tied to a tree a few feet off the ground for a week. They didn't get to my food, but they probably would have if I gave them another week or two.

These food bags may provide some rodent resistance, but you really should use an odor proof bag to prevent rodents from even nibbling on the bags in the first place.

Drybones
09-01-2013, 20:40
I've never heard mention of it on WB but I saw one hiker that had a kevlar food bag, said mice could not chew through it, he slept on the ground under a tarp and would have been fully exposed to any critter.

daddytwosticks
09-02-2013, 13:48
Don't know exactly what material my Ursak Minor is made of, but it has performed well over these last several years. :)

MuddyWaters
09-02-2013, 14:31
I think the only resistance is that it is kind of smooth and slick, so the teeth dont bite in well IF its taught.

Go for a corner, or wrinkle, and its game over.

Id expect the hybrid to actually be a bit easier from the outside, more textured to give the teeth something to grab on.

Flounder940
09-02-2013, 16:28
I had an Ursack Minor that I hung from bear cables everynight. WHen I was staying the night in a motel in Hiawassee, I noticed that it had a quarter sized hole in the bottom of it.

Violent Green
09-02-2013, 19:30
I had an Ursack Minor that I hung from bear cables everynight. WHen I was staying the night in a motel in Hiawassee, I noticed that it had a quarter sized hole in the bottom of it.

Flounder,

The Ursack Minor is made from Kevlar, but I am not sure what weight in oz/yd.

Ryan

Flounder940
09-02-2013, 19:45
0% rodent proof. I was in the Smokies 3-4 weeks ago and had a mouse chew through BOTH pockets on my Zpacks Zero backpack in less than an hour. The Zero was made of hybrid cuben fiber which is 50d polyester laminated to 1.43 oz cuben(the same cuben as the food bag). If you want rodent proof you will need kevlar, spectra or stainless mesh. It's possible some of the heavier cubens are rodent proof, but certainly not the Zpacks bag.

Ryan

Thanks Ryan, but I am aware of the material. I was making commentary to those touting Kevlar and in particular, the Ursack, for rodent proof food sacks.

Violent Green
09-02-2013, 21:39
Ha! Sorry, quoted the wrong post. Should have been daddytwosticks up there.

Ryan

daddytwosticks
09-03-2013, 07:21
So what's the process for hanging your food in a motel? Any different than from when you are out on the trail? :)