Packing sleeping bag/philosophy?

Hi Sven,
I think you'll find that all the heavier gear in a lightweight/UL backpacker's pack will not equal the compressive force exerted when stuffing a bag into a small stuffsack and keeping it under that pressure. The interior of the pack will generally be larger than the small stuffsack and give the bag room to move laterally in response to pressure from above. At least that is what I have noticed with my bag. Try it both ways and see what you think. Of course if you put enough heavy stuff on top that occupies a large enough volume……..But I don't think that applies to most of the people here most of the time.

Agree with Tom. The bottom of a backpack is much, much bigger than a stuff sack — and the force of 10-20 pounds of gear stashed on top of the bag is nothing compared to the force people have to use to wrestle their bags into those dimunitive stuff sacks.

Thanks guys – makes sense to me.
Sven

Yeah,thanks Sven. I really needed to buy something else…
Franco is off to look for a lightweight stuff sack.

People exaggerate the "damaging" effects of compression on down, particularly on this message board. Down is incredibly resiliant stuff and as long as it's not being compressed too much, for too long at a time, I wouldn't worry about it.

Depending on how your backpack carries, though, it may not be the best idea to put a sleeping bag at the bottom (unless you've got it in a compression sack, that is). If your food bag is above and is much heavier than your sleeping bag, it may unbalance your pack and cause swaying. Try it out, though, and see how you like it. Everybody's got their own preferences in this regard.