3xl clothes and gear

I'm six foot 280 pounds with a 44 inch waist, I wear a mix of XXL/3XL, and yes this is hard.

A few thoughts:

– Get a Gatewood Cape, a Packa or a poncho for rain.

– Hip belts don't work so well on my floppy belly, but they do help some. However I'd start with short trips/stages not carrying food for many days and be utterly ruthless with "you don't need X", so that the pack will be light enough to not need a hip belt.

– Insulation is hard. I'm British, so I'm afraid I'm not familiar with what's available in the US, but in general it's the more mainstream clothing companies who supply 3XL rather than the specialists. I'd look at places like REI and Walmart more than the BPLS forums… Or perhaps he could get one of the quilts that has a neck slit to convert into a serape style jacket, from e.g. Mountain Laurel Designs or Jacks are Better.

Hey thanks, that's a great idea. He will be going with me and it'll just be a short overnighter. Maybe pushing 5 miles but that's about it. And I have no problem carrying extra weight, hell I take all that stuff myself anyhow so it'll actually be lighter for me. What is a good weight for a pack without a hipbelt? I can't see him needing to carry more than 10-12 pounds. all he needs is his bag, clothes, and maybe the tent poles.
Thanks again

10-12 pounds is alright. That's about where the hipbelt starts to make a difference that I can tell at all. At 20 pounds, I want the belt.

If using trekking poles, they seem to cut the shoulder ache somehow, so I can live with maybe 25% more pack weight.

These guys are more hook-and-bullet than backpacking, but they do sell large size hipbelts. Could get one and have it fitted to a pack. See very bottom of this page:

http://www.eberlestock.com/Accessories.htm

Thanks jim, I'll check that out. What about an ohm 2.0? It's light, holds a lot of gear, has a hipbelt in his size, can get a smaller one if he sticks with it and looses weight, and has a pretty good resale value if he decides backpacking isn't for him. Since it is 64 liters, he's not going to be forced to get super compressible stuff like a down jacket. And he just has a synthetic kelty 20 degree bag. Not sure how small that compresses but prolly not too small.