A place to chat about gear and the philosphy of ultralight. Ultralight bushwalking or backpacking focuses on carrying the lightest and simplest kit. There is still a good focus on safety and skill.
Forum rules
Ultralight Bushwalking/backpacking is about more than just gear lists. Ultralight walkers carefully consider gear based on the environment they are entering, the weather forecast, their own skill, other people in the group. Gear and systems are tested and tweaked.
If you are new to this area then welcome - Please remember that although the same ultralight philosophy can be used in all environments that the specific gear and skill required will vary greatly. It is very dangerous to assume that you can just copy someone else's gear list, but you are encouraged to ask questions, learn and start reducing the pack weight and enjoying the freedom that comes.
Common words
Base pack backpacking the mass of the backpack and the gear inside - not including consumables such as food, water and fuel
light backpacking base weight less than 9.1kg
ultralight backpacking base weight less than 4.5kg
super-ultralight backpacking base weight less than 2.3kg
extreme-ultralight backpacking base weight less than 1.4kg
Sun 19 Jan, 2014 6:59 pm
Hey,
I've been using a Sea2Summit Ultra-Sil dry day pack
http://www.seatosummit.com.au/products/ ... -day-pack/ for my UL overnight pack. The straps were pretty uncomfortable, but that was easily fixed with the addition of some foam tubing. I've found it being waterproof a great advantage as I can leave it outside during the night, and it's great for walks along rivers when it is hot.
However after only a few uses, it developed small holes all over the place where it's rubbed on a rock or something similar, so that it is no longer waterproof. Being unable to fix the holes with tape as it doesn't stick, I'm quite annoyed!
Does anyone know of any similar backpacks that I should look at as a replacement? The pack weighs around 140g with the foam straps, so anything close to that weight or less would be great. Also, if it's not waterproof, then that's ok.
Sun 19 Jan, 2014 10:06 pm
Sounds like you should just patch the holes. Buy some sil nylon and some silicon seam sealer. That should do it.
Mon 20 Jan, 2014 1:55 am
20L for an overnight pack is impressive. What weight are you carrying?
Cuben Fibre TERRA NOVA - ULTRA 20 RUCKSACK 136g (4g lighter than your current kit!)
http://www.terra-nova.co.uk/packs-rucks ... a-20-pack/
Mon 20 Jan, 2014 5:42 am
osprey have various lightweight offerings, and more widely available in the shops..
Mon 20 Jan, 2014 4:26 pm
Phil - Thanks for the suggestions, some of them look quite interesting! Do you know if the Cuban Fiber bags are waterproof?
Gusto - I might try that, do you know if you can get Sil-nylon and seem sealer locally?
Avatar - When I use that bag I try to pack light and compact (I don't really have a choice!), so my total weight is around 5kgs. That back pack is quite nice, but at £130.00 it's a little bit more that what I am willing to pay!
Wayno - I already have a 85L pack from Osprey, I'll have to check out the other end of their pack range.
Tue 21 Jan, 2014 7:52 pm
What about something like the Zpacks Zero
http://www.zpacks.com/backpacks/zero.shtml around USD100, and about 110 grams.
I suspect that silnylon is going to wear with any extended use as a backpack, the S2S is probably more of just a summit pack.
Tue 21 Jan, 2014 11:05 pm
Cuben fiber is waterproof, the only area you would have water eventually getting in, is the stitching.
I use a garbage bag inside my pack and put everything inside the bag.
Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk
Wed 22 Jan, 2014 5:51 am
zimmerbuilt.com
Chris will make anything you want for a great price and superb workmanship.
Thu 23 Jan, 2014 8:03 pm
For patching holes in dry bags use sticky back sail cloth, sail makers sell it or just give small bits away. The sail makers have left over black bits all the time from cutting out peopls sail numbers.
It is great stuff and cheap, waterproof and does not come off. If you clean the cloth you are applying it to with a little isopropyl alcohol before applying it helps adhesion but not really needed.
You can buy it in ready made tapes from some marine shops
http://www.surfsailaustralia.com.au/sho ... epair+TapeAlso works on tent flys etc. Great stuff
Thu 23 Jan, 2014 10:38 pm
I've used Sailing Tape and Sticky Back cloth for lots of repairs on PU Nylon. I've never tried on Silnylon though. I don't think it would work as well.
For what it's worth, Whitworths have a good range of repair tape
https://www.whitworths.com.au/main_listitems.asp?cat=152&Cat1Descr=Sailmakers+Accessories&cat2=307&Cat2Descr=Tapes&cat3=957&Cat3Descr=Sail+Repair+TapeIt's can be difficult to buy sticky back cloth on a wide roll in Australia. I ended up buying it from here
http://www.sailmakerssupply.com/prod_detail_list/39 . I needed it as I used to manage a fleet of commercial outdoor gear.
If you want to patch Silnylon then you are better off buying Silnylon.
eg.
http://www.questoutfitters.com/coated.html#SILNYLON%201.1%20OZ%20RIPSTOPhttp://bearpawwd.com/fabrics_misc/fabrics_misc.htmlSilicon Seam sealer can be found in most outdoor store.
Thu 23 Jan, 2014 11:18 pm
iluvhiking - Wow, what an impressive range!
Scottyk and Gusto - Thanks for the info, I'll look into those links and I think I actually have some sail tape at home so I'll give that a go and report back!
Mon 27 Jan, 2014 10:51 am
I tried using sail tape on the bag. Nothing so far has stuck to the outside, the sail tape didn't stick to the inside, but some cloth gaffer tape did stick on the insides surprisingly. The material on the inside seems to have a rubbery finish as opposed to the slippery surface of the outside so I guess that might be what makes the difference.
Wayno - I think that I've seen that repair kit at Paddy Pallin so I'll try and pick some up next time I make a visit.
Tue 28 Jan, 2014 4:26 pm
That Sil-Fix you referring to don't last long.
I had a tiny branch go through my Silnylon Tarp a while back, left a small hole, I used the kit reffered to and it did not hold on for long before it started to peel off, and I prepped it as per instructions and made sure the tarp was clean.
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