Packing the sleeping bag

[Hikingjim]

If you use a compactor bag for clothes/sleeping bag, etc, just make sure you have a plan if something gets wet. eg: your bag gets a bit wet with condensation (whoops). Are you putting that in with your clothes? Or where is it going if it's rainy the next couple days and you're hiking on?

I like a couple basic UL stuff sacks to keep my crap simple and isolate things if needed. I have never been able to justify the weight of compression bags, unless someone has their space 100% maxed out and can't do anything else about it.

[ScareBear]

MY down bags go in the smallest drysack I can fit them in. Then they go in the STS eVent drysack packliner(already in pack), along with anything else that cannot stand water. Then, roll down the STS...keep slowly rolling as the air seeps out the eVent bottom...keep rolling....Voila! Smallest pack volume possible, all waterproof. On top of the packliner goes bear bag. On top of bear bag goes water bladder. There. Done. K.I.S.S.

We packed the 35L Klymit for yesterday's 8mile jaunt in the 45 degree rain in less than 5 minutes. Down bag, stove/fuel/kettle, first aid bag, down vest/polypro zip t/balaclava/rain glasses/rain pants/socks, food, 2 litres of water in Nalgene's, SOL bivvy sack, phone/battery pack, camera, 100' Dyneema cordage, multi-tool. 13 pounds wet with pack. The nice thing about the Klymit is that as long as nothing sharp is poking me in the back, shape really doesn't matter because when I inflate the air frame....POOOF! Ahhhh......
I should note that in the name of safety, I had a waterproof compass/whistle clipped on a zipper on the pack....just sayin...
YMMV...

[ScareBear]

Oh...and the Klymit 35L is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO not water-resistant...travel without a pack cover and liner at your own peril...just sayin...

[Traillium]

Not sure how small a pack he's talking about but I can fit a 45* and 20* quilt with all winter dry clothes in a 40-50l pack in a compactor bag without any trouble compressing enough....


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Osprey Exos 58. So it's on the big side … (My excuse — other than it's very comfortable — is that I'm also on the big side at 192cm/6'4", with correspondingly bigger gear.) The reason I don't compress the bag much is so that it cradles and forms around the harder more-edged gear above it.

[Ktaadn]

Oh good grief. Overthinking one more time. I tried unlearning everything I know and followed internet wisdom like "shove the bag in the bottom and pile stuff on top" with a new ULA Catalyst. Bunk! Says I! As pointed out above, the bag could not be compressed small enough or stay compressed.
So, I very quickly unlearned the internet advice and relearned what I knew would work.
WM bag stuffed into WM stuff sack supplied with bag shoved into bottom of trash bag inside pack. Done. No additional cost. No additional weight.
K.I.S.S.
Wayne


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I'm having trouble understanding what seems to be an obsession of some to squeeze out every last milliliter of air out of their sleeping bag. Why do you feel the need to have it fully compressed?

I used to always put my sleeping bag in a Walmart bag but I have found Target bags to be more durable and use them almost exclusively now. I then stuff the bag in the bottom of my pack and stack from there. Your backpack is a giant compression sack. No need to have a compression sack inside of a compression sack. We aren't carrying Russian nesting dolls, right?

[Gambit McCrae]

Many people just stuff the bag into the bottom of their pack and then pile other items on top. That approach works pretty well if you have a large enough pack, but I find it's hard to get the bag compacted enough to allow for everything else to fit. I don't really like compression sacks, they add unecessary weight and complexity to the process of packing gear.

I use a 13L Sea-to-Summit dry bag for my quilt, liner, and down puffy. It's air tight so getting it compacted to a small size and sealed up is pretty easy. That allows me to add an extra layer of moisture protection for the gear that absolutely must remain dry, with only a 1.5 ounce increase over an ultralight 13L stuffsack.

Best most awesomeness solution I have found is ONE zpacks pack size dry bag, stuff sleeping bag down to the bottom of pack, next goes in pad, inflatable pillow, cook set etc. dry bag has Velcro and roll top. everything is 100% waterproof no doubt about it at end of a all day rain hike, my stuff WILL be dry

[RangerZ]

I stuff my sleeping bag into a trash-compactor bag in the bottom of my Osprey Exos 58. My clothes go in too. Then I compress the bag somewhat but not maximally, twist the top tightly and fold it down. Other gear with their awkward roundish shapes go on top. If it's going to be really wet, or if I'm on the water, I'll first compress my bag into an eVent S2S stuff sack that normally sits in the bottom of my pack. But I find I can get more gear compactly stowed with the sleeping bag and clothes providing a 'plastic' shape that allows the other more solid shapes to nestle down into the trash compactor package.

Glad to see the trash compactor bag is still working for you. I stuff my down sleeping bag into a waterproof stuff sack in the zippered bottom of my pack (beside my tent in its own cut down compactor bag) for access. If I thought it was going to be really wet I might put it in my trash compactor bag liner. I have my down jacket in a nonwaterproof stuff sack but inside the trash compactor bag lining my pack. Other "stuff" goes on top of the closed trash compactor bag. My pack has wet through in a storm but everything important stayed dry.

[Traillium]

Glad to see the trash compactor bag is still working for you.

That trash compactor bag has been wonderful, sir — thanks!

[Bronk]

I have a bag that came with a compression sack but threw the sack away...I put my sleeping bag in the pack last and just pack it in as loosely as it will fit.

[Obiwan]

I have removed a flap that offered me a separate bottom compartment for my sleeping bag. Now I have full bag to stuff items. My backpack is lined with a heavy duty trash compactor bag. I just shoved my sleeping bag into the bottom and will begin hike this way. I'm going to carry a empty compression sack just in case I change my mine. Thank everybody!

Even if you simply stuff your bag in the pack, an extra drybag is a good idea in case you get in a situation where you KNOW you are going to get really wet

[One Half]

I use a Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil Nano dry sack for my down bag. The 13L weighs an ounce and the 8L weighs only 0.8oz. Love 'em

http://www.seatosummit.com/product/?...o2=3&o3=514-32

I use the same, just bought it. I don't turn my bag into a bowling ball with it though. I just compress it enough so that I can fit it in the bottom of my bag across the width. I have a down bag so keeping it dry is essential to my happiness and health. I also keep my sleep clothes in it.

[One Half]

I use the same, just bought it. I don't turn my bag into a bowling ball with it though. I just compress it enough so that I can fit it in the bottom of my bag across the width. I have a down bag so keeping it dry is essential to my happiness and health. I also keep my sleep clothes in it.

Woops. I use the e-vent compression version.

[josh_ATL]

I'm a huge fan of just shoving my bag in the bottom of my pack and piling everything on top of it. It fills out the bottom of my pack and helps keep everything else in place.

[fastfoxengineering]

Your gonna get a different answer for every response. I've used the sea to summit ultra sil dry bags inside a compactor bag. I've also just used a compactor bag. I feel the quilt just stuffed into a compactor bag worked best in my pack. It took the form of the bottom of the pack. However inside a dry bag inside a compactor deffinetly adds some piece of mind.

My current setup for backpacking. My quilt in a cuben dry bag from zpacks. My spare clothes I pack loosely. I line my pack with a gossamer gear packliner. I compress my quilt in my dry bag and put it at the bottom of the pack liner. I then fill in the voids at the bottom with my spare clothes.

I then compress the pack liner and twist it a few times then stuff the top down in a corner.

My food bag and cookpot are the only other two items that go inside my pack. And they don't need to be inside the pack liner. I use a cuben food sack and a titanium pot. I don't care if they get a little wet.

I like putting my expensive down quilt inside the dry bag for a few reasons. Extra waterproofing and protection. It's easier in the am for me to sit up and pack my bag into a dry bag. I'm OCD about organization.

It would also depend on where I hike too. On the AT it rains alot. I would use the method I do now.

On the PCT where rain is alot less frequent. I might just pack it in a plastic bag.

Dry bags are overrated for hikers. Especially the ones with straps for compressing stuff. Do they have a use, sure, but thru hikers typical don't need them.



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[greentick]

Get an STS eVent drysack for your bag. Best way to compress a down bag into the shape you want and to keep it dry.
http://www.seatosummit.com/product/?...o2=0&o3=291-12

I like this one. No compression straps. I just fit it in the bottom of my pack, extra air comes right through the e-vent.

[ScareBear]

I like this one. No compression straps. I just fit it in the bottom of my pack, extra air comes right through the e-vent.

My bad! I use the one you use! I don't have the one with compression straps! Don't know how that got there! I use the 35L grey in a Flash62 right now...but I am looking into a new, smaller lighter pack...for the summer, at least...

[mweinstone]

Any advise given on such a choice other than" what keeps it dry and works for you is moot.
every single one of us had to learn by trial and error and so shall you. How i do it or others do it is not helpfull
the first order of buissness in these affairs is doing it the wrong way first.

[Another Kevin]

I'm having trouble understanding what seems to be an obsession of some to squeeze out every last milliliter of air out of their sleeping bag. Why do you feel the need to have it fully compressed?

I carry my winter bag in a compression sack because my pack is a compromise. It's rather bigger than I need in the summer. but uncomfortably tight in the winter, and compressing the sleeping bag helps me get everything else in.

[liteweight]

I put my WM megalite in a stuff sack for years. Last year I got a Zpacks pack liner (trash compactor bag will do) and now just stuff the bag into the bottom of the pack. If you have a pack liner or compactor bag is there any reason to still use a stuff sack?

[Venchka]

Any advise given on such a choice other than" what keeps it dry and works for you is moot.
every single one of us had to learn by trial and error and so shall you. How i do it or others do it is not helpfull
the first order of buissness in these affairs is doing it the wrong way first.

Right on. Some of us are so devious that we might answer with the wrong way in this thread.
LOL.
But Seriously folks. Trial and error. Practice. Practice. Practice. Start with the least expensive solution. Don't run out and buy stuff that either won't work for you or you don't need.
Good luck.
Wayne


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