To Stuff or Fold?

In 42 years backpacking, never, ever fold. Home storage or on the trail, stuff. Large cotton sack at home.

I’ve never heard an argument that holds water in favor of folding.

At home, I either hang in closet if there’s a top loop or store loosely in a large cotton stuff sack.  On the trail, I stuff silnylon and roll cuben.

I fold ‘n roll my Duplex but am careful not to fold in the same places repeatedly. Used to stuff Sil, just cause it didn’t make any difference in packed volume.

My theory, in jest, is that they are called stuff sacks and not fold sacks for a reason!

Ah, nice to hear my default, untidy stuffing is the way to go . Phew :)

Now when it comes to storing all the wrappers, bags and trash…no one will impress me more than Casey ( Bowden). Every piece of paper, foil and plastic gets flattened out neatly and then folded up perfectly before being stored in the zip lock bag designated for trash. I tried to emulate and it lasted for most of one day before the system collapsed.

Years ago the question used to come up rather often.

Folk used to laugh at me when I pointed out that rolling and folding saves space for most tents and in fact the same applies to tarps and sleeping bag liners .

Then Cuben came about.

At that point , having spent $600-800 for a shelter the idea of folding and rolling seemed to be more reasonable than it was before.

For tents, I stuff (loosely) for storage and fold on the trail, typically putting the tent next to my back in the pack.  For quilts/sleeping bags I stuff loosely at home and tightly on the trail.

Many hikers stuff their tents/sleeping bags/clothes into their backpacks to fill up empty spaces and provide firmness, especially if they are using a frameless pack.

The important thing is not focus solely on how much volume the object takes, but how much volume it takes in your pack… and how you are utilizing that pack volume.  Tightly folding will result in a lower volume for your tent, but if you try to pack a series of tightly folded object you will see many unused areas in your bag where the objects didn’t fit together.

I use that theory for my quilt and clothes, but I still fold my tent.  Why? because I find when I stuff my tent, the waterproof fabrics trap volumes of air.  By folding I can eliminate those volumes.  Also by stuffing my clothes and quilt I can effectively utilize the gaps and spaces in my bag…. I don’t need my tent to do that.

I’m a stuffer, and have found that stuffing seems to be more space-friendly than folding. I have no experience with cuben (I see people in this thread say cuben should be folded and rolled) but with normal tent materials like silnylon stuffing appears to be the way to go. And all my other gear also. I cloud pack so it just all goes in and the sleeping bag takes up the rest of the space.

BTW, I carry my tents on the outside, either across the top or down the front of the pack, so that is why a tightly packet tent works for me.

storing at home: hanging definitely.  It keeps the item loose and allows air to circulate around it.  I have our big car camping tent hanging from a hook on one of the walls in my office.  Other tents are hanging from hangers in various closets.  Sleeping bags are in very large cotton stuff sacks (big enough that they’re loose inside) and those storage bags are hanging from hangers in a closet.  If we had the space, I’d prefer to hang them all outside of a closet, like from hangers on a wall in a small bedroom or office.  Enclosed spaces like closets are good places for mildew to develop.

I’m a stuffer with one thing to add.  I will buy a stuff sack (cuben of course) that’s a couple sizes larger than what the shelter requires so it’s easier to moosh it around gear in my pack vs a smaller sack that would be less… mooshable.

Stuff sil.  Fold and roll cuben.