silnylon stuff sacks

[Matt DeWitt]

I was thinking of getting some silnylon stuff sacks to lighten up and use one for a pillow with clothes in it. Would this work? I haven't ever used silnylon I have read it can be noise how would it feel on the skin? Is all silnylon the same ? Is it waterproof? If you use these bags to organize how many do you use and what sizes?

[Matt DeWitt]

where is the best place to buy them?

[James Byrnes]

I stuff rain gear and any cloths not slept in into sack and then put sack in my hiking shirt. I anchor the tail of the shirt under my sleep pad to prevent the make shift pillow from moving out of position.

[Bob Gross]

Each time I purchase outdoor fabrics, I always get more than I need, so there is always fabric left over. I make stuff sacks out of that, and the game is to try to make a stuff sack that is different from any other I've made. They vary by size, shape, color, drawcord type, and drawcord toggle type. I give most of them away to my hiking friends and keep a few.

Silnylon is awfully slippery and hard to deal with. Coated nylon is good. Pertex is good. No-see-um netting is good since you can see the contents of the bag. "Wedding mesh" is terrible.
–B.G.–

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

It's a bit heavier than a regular stuff sack, but if you get a dry sack instead of a regular style stuff sack then you can roll it up to adjust it's size to fit the amount of clothes you have on hand. This prevents the clothes in your pillow from parting like the red sea under your head. I have a silnylon dry sack that weighs 1.4oz in a 7 litre size. I use this for my quilt to keep it dry and then at night it's my pillow case. And yeah, tossing another layer on top of the pillow improves the feel of it because silnylon is rather slippery. It's not noisy though. Spinnaker is.

[Chris Gray]

I use a Sea-to-Summit medium Ultra-light stuff sack, it weighs in at 0.7oz and fits my carried clothes and it works perfectly as a pillow. The material is siliconized cordura, it is slippery, but makes no noise when stuffed as a pillow.

[Laurence Beck]

You can get a silnylon stuff sack for a Thermarest Prolite Plus that is also fleece lined. It weighs 1.8oz (for the regular size) and it makes a vary comfortable pillow plus it has a double function as well.

[Shawn Peyton]

I'll have to second that. I love mine, the fleece lining is well worth the extra ounce or so (for me). I just can't sleep on a regular stuff sack nylon.

[Jason Picard]

There are lighter options, but I love this stuff sack. silnylon ones always slide off into the corner of the tent during the night too. not only is the Therm-a-rest fleece-lined one comfy, it stays put. Dual functionality's in its favour too!

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

If you're okay with using an inflatable pillow, the ones from Kookabay are great. Bender from Kookabay made me a pillow from 30D nylon (not silnylon) that weighs just 0.9oz for a 3.5" thick pillow. The regular ones are 70D nylon and weigh 1.3oz. The fabric isn't fleecy soft, but it's also not slippery like silnylon. It'll stay put, so I just toss a layer or two of clothes on top to make it soft against my skin and then I'm good to snooze.

To make this double purpose, you could attach some straps to the pillow and use two as a set of waterwings ^_^

Seriously though, using a silnylon stuff sack as a pillow is a good avenue to explore. You can overcome silnylon's tendency to slide around by putting a little seam sealer on the stuff sack which gives it grip. Put the sealant on the inside and then flip it inside out when you use it as a pillow. You can also overcome the slippery feel of silnylon on your face by tossing a baselayer or other layer on top of the pillow. The biggest challenge with stuff sack pillows is getting the pillow properly stuffed. If it's a cold night and you are wearing almost all your clothes to bed, what will you stuff the sack with? I found that my clothing available to stuff a pillow varies in quantity quite a bit and it's usually in short supply. That's why in the past I've used a roll top silnylon dry sack (1.4oz). I can vary the volume so my pillow always has the right thickness and the clothing doesn't separate apart under my head. If you do use a regular stuff sack, you'd be best off to probably bring one that's a little small because it's difficult to sleep on an large but underfilled stuff sack.

[EndoftheTrail]

Matt:

My only concern is that silnylon next to skin (your face) can get very uncomfortable! I suppose you can stuff all except one piece of clothing inside the silnylon stuff sack, leaving a tee shirt or something outside as a 'pillow case'.

[JM Addleman]

I use the self-fabric stuff sack for my froggtoggs as my pillow with the jacket inside, since I don't usually use it in my sleep system. It's got a very comfortable texture, I would definitely recommend fuzzy non-woven polypro as a pillow sack material.

[Justin Tremlin]

I installed a really long draw cord on a SilNylon stuff sack. I fill it with clothing I'm not sleeping in and then loop the draw cord around my sleeping pad (if I'm using a self inflating pad) or tie it off to a hole I have punched in my closed cell foam pad. This anchors the pillow/stuff sack in place. It works well for side sleepers if you have the anchor point near your chin. If it’s a warm night I wrap the stuff sack in a shirt (the next day’s shirt, not the one I was just hiking in. that’s gross).

[Frank Deland]

http://jwbasecamp.com/Articles/DryGear/index.html

[Jace Mullen]

Hey,

I have a scrap of silnylon you could probably use to make some stake bags or something like that. It is black 1.1 oz silnylon. This could give you a chance to work with it and see how it feels to you. Just PM me your adress and I'll get it out to you. I will be gone for the next two weeks hiking so when I get home I will.

PM me either way.

-Jace

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