Stuff Sacks

[Nate Boyer]

I'm trying to get away from using stuff sacks.

I've been putting my sleeping bag in an Event Evac dry bag/compression sack. to make sure it stays dry. This sack is about 4-5 oz.

In attempt to lighten the load, I'm considering not using it anymore and just using my compactor bag as a liner.

This leaves me with nothing to use as a bear bag, because I've been using this sack to hang my food.

What does everyone else use to hang food if you don't bring any stuff sacks?

[Harrison Carpenter]

It might just be me, but I suspect many people will claim they carry "food sacks" or "bear bags"… and that these things might be confused with stuff sacks. :) Srsly, there are food storage bags that are, basically, stuff sacks made of heavier material. And more than one person will point out that they use a canister when required to do so.

[Christian Denniston]

Admittedly I use quite a few stuff-sacks. However, this past year I switched to using all cuben fiber stuff sacks from Zpacks which has saved a decent amount of weight. I highly recommend the Zpacks Blast Food Bag with a roll top (1.4oz) . I also use a LiteTrail pack liner (1.0oz) which waterproofs my pack contents including my quilt.

[Nate Boyer]

Does anybody else dislike using a trash compactor bag as a liner?
It just makes it harder to dig through the pack. This is another reason I used a stuff sack for my sleeping bag, instead of a liner.

[Justin Baker]

You don't carry your food in a bag? You can just hang whatever bag you use to hold your food. I guess you could leave your food in your pack and hang your entire pack.

[Nate Boyer]

I usually have my food in zip lock bags. I suppose I could use a dedicated zpack Food sack.

[jason quick]

at this point in my set up, I use two zpacks large rectangulay dry bags and one zpacks stuff sack (which came with the tent).

My lower zpacks dry bag contains:
sleeping bag
mat
pillow
spare clothes

My middle dry bag contains:
ditty bag
ziplocked food stuff
cooking gear
down insulator jacket

Top layer stuff sac contains:
hexamid tent.

My logic is that the top dry bag is the bag I access most during the day, for cooking or whatever…in which I'll probably need to don some insulation anyways (if I am stopping for a meal or tea break), which is why my insulation jacket is found in there also. So this works well. Even though my tent sits on top, it takes up miniscule room, and is easily pulled in and out. Plus, it will be the last thing to be packed after 'packing up camp' in the morning. The bottom dry bag is purely for camp set up in the evening. All up, I think my dry bag configuration weighs in at approx. 3.5 ounces…which is more than acceptable for me.

For dry or warmer camping, I simply use a zpacks pack liner, and chuck the whole lot in…roughly in the same order as I would if using dry bags.

Hope this helps…it works well for me.

[Brian Johns]

I use a Zpacks cuben pillow bag for my clothes – taped seams if needed for my puffy – and as a pillow at night. I use a zimmerbuilt summit bag (1.19 oz.) for my food. I can hang it at night, it's 1.43 oz. cuben and weighs 1.1 oz., its a daypack for side trips and a solid bag for hanging food. I also use a cuben stuff sack, 3 grams, for my stove, pot, kitchen, etc. Oh, I also use a cuben ditty bag. Beyond that a gossamer gear or MLD pack liner for my down bag or quilt and puffy. That's it. Probably enough for sure, but they all weigh so little and keep things dry in all but a full on submersion.

[jason quick]

> I use a zimmerbuilt summit bag (1.19 oz.) for my food. I can hang it at night, it's 1.43 oz. cuben and weighs 1.1 oz., its a daypack for side trips and a solid bag for hanging food.

That sounds great and uber light…got some pics? I can't seem to locate it on his website.

[John Donewar]

Jason,

http://www.zimmerbuilt.com/gear-deals.html

$35.00

"***Note: International shipping is set up for Priority Mail, If you would like your order shipped First Class please contact me for quote.***"

There are three more pictures on the Zimmerbuilt site at the link in the top of this post. Scroll down to the bottom of the page.

Party On,

Newton

[Christian Denniston]

"Does anybody else dislike using a trash compactor bag as a liner? "

I too cant stand trash compactor bags. They are way to wide and all the extra material makes it really challenging to find things in the pack. That is why I use a dedicated pack liner from a cottage company. These dedicated pack liners are much narrower and conform to the shape of the pack much better in my opinion. I like the idea of simply hanging your entire pack, although I would imagine that if it rained overnight you pack may be pretty wet in the morning.

[Nate Boyer]

"a cottage company."

Such as? Like Zpacks?

any recomendations?

[Nico .]

Anything that I don't want to get wet and that I won't need while hiking (so stuff like my quilt, pad, any insulation for in camp, etc.) goes into a Litetrail.com packliner (nylofume bag) that gets closed up and put in the bottom of the pack.

Everything else goes in on top either loose or in its own small cuben stuff sack. Things like my shelter or my cookpot/stove are put in small cuben stuff sacks. Wind jacket, water filter and other odds and ends just go in the top of the pack loose. I've got a small cuben stuff sack that contains all of my small items like my toiletries, repair kit and first aid kit.

Food is stored in a litetrail.com odor proof (nylofume) bag and then put inside a cuben dry bag from lawson (serves as bear bag in camp). If I think I might have some wet weather but want to have a midlayer or something handy and not packed away at the bottom of the pack in my packliner, I'll use the cuben food bag to instead keep those clothing items protected, but accessible at the top of my pack, while hiking.

I've never bothered to weigh what my nylofume packliner and food bag, and few cuben stuff sacks weigh but I can't imagine it would amount to much. Either way, I'm confident it's worth the miniscule weight penalty to help keep my stuff clean, dry and organized.

[John Donewar]

Lawson Equipment

http://lawsonequipment.com/All-Products/Pack-Liner-Dry-Bags-2pk-p956.html

Party On,

Newton

[Dean F.]

I use a liner, and no compression or stuff sack for my quilt and any clothes that I need to keep dry. Since it goes in the bottom of my pack it has no impact on how easy it is to root around in the pack for other items- they are all on top. I keep the clothes on top of the quilt in the liner so that I can get to them if needs be.

A while ago a bought a box of contractor-grade thick-walled trash bags which I use as my liners. They're too tall, so I cut them down to size. It'll probably take me a decade to go through that box of bags.

I do carry a sack for hanging food- one just big enough. I usually don't use any other stuff sacks- most of my small items are in my hipbelt pockets.

But I suppose that if you didn't want to carry a food sack you could just hang your whole pack, eh?

[Nate Boyer]

Hmm. looks like a trash bag.

I'm considering a liner from Zpacks. Looks perfect since I use a ULA circuit.

[Brian Johns]

The lawson bag shown is pretty nice, and you'll get a lot of uses out of them. Also, try to line your food bag with something odor proof like the Nylofume bags that, I believe, Lawson also sells, or maybe it's lite trail. Anyway, the clear ones are nice for big soft stuff like a sleeping bag an puffy. The zpacks bags are about as light, shut tight with a roll top closure. Probably worth the extra money, but probably not a significant performance advantage.

[John Donewar]

The dimensions of the clear liner from Lawson are 12"x8"x32". That is pretty close to the dimensions of a lot of packs out there. Stuffed full the Zpacks is quoted as "roughly 6.5" deep x 13" wide x 31" tall."

Those dimensions are a pretty close match.

I use a trash compactor bag and it does have quite a lot of extra "bag" material. The pack liners from Lawson are much closer to "pack size".

The weight of the clear liner is 1.37oz (39.0 grams) and the weight of the Zpacks liner is 1.8 oz. / 51 grams.

Plastic is $4.95 for a 2 pack and the cuben is $38.95 for a single.

Party On,

Newton

[Steven McAllister]

I have a few of the Lawson heavy duty cuben drybags.
Combined, they weigh a little less than a pack liner.

I use one for my sleeping bag, one for clothes, one for the bear bag and one for my toiletries and electronics.

The heavy cuben is very durable and more waterproof than other drybags I've used.

I do not like pack liners for a couple reasons, but mostly out of habit.
I like the fact that I can unpack and repack my pack in the rain without worrying about the important stuff getting wet.

My pack, tarp and stuff gets wet, but that is no big deal at all. They dry out quickly once everything is setup under the tarp.

I just can't seem to keep the inside of a pack liner dry on really wet trips.
I can always be sure that the items that need to be dry are dry when I use drybags instead of a pack liner.

[Nate Boyer]

Last weekend I finally tried stuffing my marmot Pinnacle sleeping bag into the bottom of my ULA Circuit pack with no stuff sack. I struggled with it the entire trip. The bag took up more than half the pack! I stuffed it as much as humanly possible. It was a pain.

I ran out of room in the pack to put the rest of my gear. I really didn't like this.

I"m thinking a lightweight summer bag wouldn't require a stuff sack, but these 10 degree bags need it to keep them compressed.

thoughts?

[Nick Gatel]

No stuff sacks or liners needed because my rain gear is a poncho. I use some ziplocks for food and small items.

[Stephen Barber]

I use an Exped Schnozzle bag for my sleeping bag, down sweater and any other clothes, also use it to inflate my UL7 Synmat, of course. Food is in zip-locks (freezer bags), all of which go in an Opsak (second Opsak for garbage), which go in either an MLD Bear Bag or a bear canister if required.

Can't stand compacter bag liners! Very awkward to dig thru!

Also a long-term poncho wearer. Yes, they can get flappy, but a cord around the waist when the wind is blowing solves most problems, and the combo of rain protection for me and my pack, plus great ventilation, plus (if necessary) an extra roof if needed is great!

[Author]

Posts