Packing a GG thinlight AND a Torso Nightlight

[Andrew Richardson]

Does anyone take this combo along? I have an MLD exodus and packing my full length thinglight with my torso nightlight makes things a tight squeeze. I think I can fit the rest of my gear and enough food for a few days,but I dunno. I know I want this pack to be as tight as possible, but I was wondering what packing methods you all used.

Currently I roll my thinlight and place it in the pack. Then I place the folded nightlight against the back panel. This pushes the weight of my pack away from my body and I like the weight to sit as close as possible. How do the people that use both these pads pack them? Also, I HATE how this stuff sticks to itself. It makes things such a pain!

[James Patsalides]

Andrew:
So, I just created a (similar) combo, 1/3 of a z-lite plus 2/3 of a GG thinlight. I cut them and glued them together. This allows me to fold the z-lite (four sections) and wrap the thin light around it making a "brick" which fits really nicely into my Golite Ion. I found that the thinlight is kind of sticky and my other stuff is hard to put in & out of the bag (especially the Ion), so I made a MYOG tyvek bag sized exactly for the "brick", with the shiny side INWARDS. The thinlight slides in easily and the whole combo is like a nice support beam for my golite. Whole combo is ±6ozs.

Cheers, James.

[Tony Wong]

I have the Jam2 and use the same sleeping pads.

In my case, I have the rolled up thinlight on the outside of my pack, strapped to the side of the pack….with one of the ends of the roll stuffed into the side pocket.

I have a thin/light garbage bag around the torso pad to keep it from sticking to everything else around it, which drives me nuts, and slide that into the pack against my back.

Either way you do it, having a MYOG silnylon bag or a garbage bag wrapped around it will help you keep your sanity and make it easier to push it in or to pull it out of your pack.

Hope this helps.

-Tony

[Michael Skwarczek]

Second Tony's methods.

But I eventually found that I needed more room in my pack so I roll the Nightlight and Thinlight together on the outside and strap both to the side of my Jam2. I'd previously found that the Nightlight Torso was just shy of what I needed. So, I purchased a full length of the Nightlite, measured from my shoulders to just past my knees, cut, and then cut a panel off that. I put the panel in the pack, inside a garbage bag, for structural support.

BTW, if you have a pillow, like the Montbell, it'll stay perfectly in place with the Thinlight under it.

cheers,
-Michael

[Thomas Burns]

I have both the GG and the Torsolite, which I pack in frameless packs (in my case, the Thompson Peak and Alpine Trail) to add rigidity.

Here's how:

Optional: Line the BP with a thin garbage bag.

Roll up one of the pads (starting with the TL works best for me) and stick it in the BP. Put your hand inside the pad and bang away like like crazy for 30 seconds. The pad will slowly expand to fill the inside cavity of the BP.

Roll up the second pad and do the same thing (a bit more gently with the GG foam pads). The foam pad takes a bit longer, but that's just a sign that the foam is sticking to itself a little and that's good.

You now have a rigid cavity to pack into. The cavity's stiffness adds a virtual frame to the BP, allows your down sleeping bag to expand instead of being compressed, and really makes any compression of small loads unnecessary, especially if you put the sleeping bag on top and allow it to fill the available space.

I use a relatively tough garbage bag the cheapskates at my university buy for general use. It's only 1.5 mil — I think — but it does the job, and a couple of holes won't injure its effectiveness, thanks to duct tape.) It keeps the interior dry (no need for a sleeping-bag stuff sack), and makes it a little easier for the first pad to expand.

Stargazer

[Jim MacDiarmid]

I fold my thinlite into 1/4ths and put in on top of my GG Gorrilla, Under my bear cannister, which is held down by the y-top strap. In my case I love the fact that the thinlite is so sticky. It keeps my cannister from sliding off, which is an issue with the GG system. (Users on the GG website suggest using velcro to hold the cannister in place.)You can see my method in this picture:

The one problem with this was that I caught the pad on a tree branch and put a hole it it. Cosmetic damage only.

Not that you haven't figured this out for yourself, but here's a thread with pictures of my various ways of folding my thinlite.

Edit:That's weird, I ordered a Beartooth Hoody yesterday and put my gf's work as the shipping address, and they changed my user name to her name. Have to contact BPL about changing it back.

[Tohru Ohnuki]

I've been packing it by rolling both and strapping to the bottom of the Jam2. One tip, if you are using straps, don't cinch them down too tight, just enough to keep them from unwinding/sliding. Tight straps will make permanent dents in the pads!

[Andrew Richardson]

ehh…I know I can get by with the nightlight as the only structure in my pack, but I hate the idea of having a pad on the outside of my pack. I don't know why, but I am just really against that. Maybe it's aesthetics or something…

I might just cut down the thinlight or something because I don't think I have another option unless I carry it on the outside of the pack

[Michael Skwarczek]

I can go out with two out UL'ers from BPL, all three of us using the same system we're discussing here, we'll even all have the Jam2, but pack differently.

We pick up little pet-peeves and preferences along the road. Combined with an individual's physiology, there's no recipe for the uber-system. Just tips and tricks coupled with wisdom and opinion.

Ultimately you get out and find out.

You know, I like what we do and how we do it.

Fun times!

cheers all,
-Michael

[Scott Bentz]

My situation may be a bit different.

I use a GG Mariposa Plus. The TorsoLight goes on the outside pocket folded in thirds. After putting everything in my pack I put the Thinlight on the top, inside my pack. That was it is easy to get to. it's light so having heavy items on top is not an issue either. I do not put a bear canister on top of my pack. For me it's way to top heavy that way.

Scott

[Andrew Richardson]

Michael – Heh, I know what you mean. Everyone has their own way and I love that about backpacking. We're all a bit OCD I imagine when it comes to packing. I could never take someone packing my stuff for me!

Scott- Hmm..that's a great idea! I can fold my thinlight into quarters like Jim did and just put it on top! That might be what I end up trying.

I don't like getting the pad all bent and stuff, but I don't think it affects performance at all. I was upset last night when I was pulling out my nightlight and it caught on the zipper of the stash pocket and got a line scraped out of it! I think I treat my gear a bit too nicely sometimes… :-)

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