After a long arduous day on the trail, my partner Jon and I were in our tent contemplating ways to make our packs lighter. I joked to Jon that we should cut all the tags off our gear to save weight. Jon didn't catch my sarcasm and approved the idea because he read about this technique from a couple of backpacking blogs. However, he never found an exact weight savings, but hypothesized he could shave an ounce off his pack weight. I bet $20 against him. Once back in town, since ski season was right around the corner we used Jon's ski touring gear as the basis of the experiment.
ARTICLE OUTLINE
- Introduction
- The Test
- Summary
- Works Cited
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Thanks Gary.
I'll set up a bending jig, get a couple of rods and give it a try.
Here's the link to the BPL post about the Jam mods. Read through it, Greg, as there are lots of good ideas and replies. Might give you some ideas…
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=64923
molte grazie.
Migliori auguri, Greg.
Mamma mia! Voi Due!
You too, Ide-monster. Happy Thankgiving, buddy!
Bob, sorry to have neglected your question about the DayLite's final volume. The GoLite specs say it is 1525 cu. in". The GL Ion specs are 1600 cu. in. for size large. Both of these modified packs will hold the same gear, packed to the max. But this also includes the rather spacious mesh pockets that I've added to each of them. So I'm assuming that the DayLite is also about 1600 cu. in., but without using Greg's styrofoam peanut collection, I can't really say for sure. If I had a gun pointed at my head, demanding a decent guess, I'd say that the DayLite carries about 1600-1650 cu. in. now, the same as my de-ionized Ion.
Why did I recycle all those packing peanuts that Harmony House sent me with my dehydrated fruit?
Yes, I will need to start collecting styrofoam peanuts myself.
It seems as though some manufacturers quote the pack volume as being the total volume of the main bag plus the sum of all mesh pockets. That's kind of rough to me, because most mesh pockets have so much stretch that their volume can vary a lot. I wish there were a more clean-cut standard. I had thought of replacing a backpack with a new one of equal volume and three ounces lighter at the scale, but I don't know exactly how each was measured.
Maybe I could mail order buy a package of new styrofoam peanuts and hope that they pack it in styrofoam peanuts.
–B.G.–
I went to a local "packing and mailing" store and asked them who donated/recycled peanuts. Turns out it was a local bike shop. Gave them two large trash bags and a couple of weeks later I had my supply.
Man, I went to bed early last night, and when I woke up early this morning, I saw where you two have totally rearranged the theme of this thread (as if I hadn't done enough of that myself). But hey, Bob, if you cut all the tags off that box of peanuts that you're going to buy, maybe we'll be OK. You've got no way out, Greg, since you scored your peanuts by dumpster-diving.
I'm off to find yet another tag to trim off something, to try to appease the thread angels.
Edit-spelling
Calorie cost for 0.5 oz seemed high. When I plug the same numbers into Hiking Science calculator, I get ~12 calories (dietary) per thousand miles. Did I make error, or is something else amiss?
Best
Bill S.
OK, I'll blame B.G. and Greg for this post. I found that I actually did have some styrofoam peanuts tucked away. There weren't enough of them to fill up the DayLite, but I found a couple of those 6-7" mini basketballs that they sell during the Final Four tournament. I lined the pack with a Force Flex trash bag to contain the curiously magnetic peanuts, added the balls and peanuts, shook things up like Greg does, and I was thrilled to find that the volume of peanuts/balls exactly filled up the pack. Then I checked out my cardboard box collection and found one that looked about right. And it was a bulls-eye! The peanuts and balls exactly filled up the 10" x 10" x 15.5" box. So the pack volume looks to be about 1550 cu. in. The large mesh front pocket probably adds another 200 cu.in. of capacity, so the finished product looks to be over 1700 cu. in. + the volume of the side mesh bottle pockets.
There you have it, BG. Or, for you Brits, "Bob's your uncle."
Gary,
I got that same pack from GoLite, and i also cut a bunch of stuff off, but not as much as you did…
I am shamed!
No shame at all, Mike. After all, you are the one that made me get serious on all this hack stuff. Your book is my bible:
Tip #5–It's OK to be nerdy (that would be me)
Tip #9–Cut stuff off your gear (what this thread is all about)
And then there's Tip #72–Napping is a skill (this validated my occasional mid-day habit of self-indulgence)
My favorite is Tip #114–Coiling the bear hang cord (it solved my tangled cord problem)
So you are the true winner here, Mike. I'm just a wannabe…
Tags have no purpose for me, they add weight, get in the way, and therefore bug me. I know how to wash clothes, it's not like I'm cutting the tags of a mink fur coat!
This is one of the best articles/posts ever on BPL. I enjoyed it immensely.
Ranks right up there with Which Pencil for the JMT?
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