Sabre 45 & packing advice???

[Martyn]

Some questions for the more experienced TARDIS engineers.

I've bit the bullet and coughed up for a Karrimor sabre 45 patrol pack (the one with the padded carry system and bungee cord top).

Lots of people seem to like em and I'm hoping for good reason - they look good for sure. I know 45 litres isn't much and I'm hoping the space restriction will encourage some discipline with what I carry etc. But even so, a sleeping bag, a goretex bivi bag, army poncho and hoochi and that's 3/4 of the 45L volume gone. So how do you get more from less? I assume you guys pack your sleeping bag inside your ruck, but what about the other stuff? It's all waterproof, do you make a roll and attach to the outside? Or do you carry ultralight/compact versions of the above? Looking at some of this army surplus gear, you'd need a Vulcan to carry it all.

So if you were/are packing a 45L sack for say - a week trip (that puts pressure on what you take), OK thats a bit tight, so add on the two 12.5L side pockests giving 70L total - what do you consider essential and how do you pack it? Do you arrange your gear into groups and pack in small stuff sacks?

The sabre 45 seems a popular sack, so how would YOU pack it and what would you carry?

Lastly, how would you attach/carry your GrannyB SFA?

 

[Adi007]

Well, for what it's worth, here's my advice ... get the Vulcan!!!! ... Joking!

Basically, you should be able to get your bivvy bad, poncho and basha sheet rolled up into a small roll. Do this and hook it to the outside.

Now, how small does your sleeping bag go? Compressed real tight (you might need a better compressor bag or get a compression spider for the job and be harsh with it - you won't be storing it long term like this! Once it's small, that and your thermarest goes inside the main pack. That should leave you the max space for other stuff ... stove, food (which will be the largest component), first aid and so on. Look at the rest of your kit and decide on what you absolutely need (far less that you'll initially think), and then everything else is a luxury that you can choose.

Then start small ... one night and check it out. What did you use, what did you not use? What did you forget? Take notes. Now got for a couple of days, doing the same thing again.

I hook my GB or khuk in between the pack and the side pocket attachment.

Hope this helps!

 

[C_Claycomb]

When I was on that Woodlore course one of the instructors showed what he got in his. He used it, with side pockets, for a 2 week stay in the Swedish forest, he said that the pockets were mainly empty :-?

In the main compartment the sleeping bag went first, there was a hoochie, bivi, 3/4 Thermarest, small (rugger ball size) dry bag with clothes, water proof coat, tinder bags and a canteen. I know that I couldn't have got all that to fit in my 40l Rocket pack.

You might want to ask Nomad, he was on the course with me and mentioned that he was doing at least that well with his packing. Not sure if it is the same rucksack, but could be worth a shout anyway.

By the way, where did you find your bag and what did it set you back? Will they even be available much longer?!? I like the look and thought it might be a more comfortable design than my Snugpak. Need to see one close up though to clinch it.

Best of luck!

 

[PC2K]

if you really out of space, you can put your sleeping bag and pad in your bivy and roll it up ( they are the most space consuming things ) and attach it outside. This way you not only leave load of space in side, but you also have a sleeping system that is instandly ready, just roll it out, craw in and ZZzzZzzZ... if you have a foam mat, dutch army bivy and a -2 celcius sleeping bag, this roll is going to be huge, though...

 

[al]

in the main sac,sleeping bag ,,bivy bag i set of dry clothes,spare socks,pants,wash kit,sewing kit, all at the bottom, then billy and some food , hot wets kit in the billy,water proof jacket,map, axe tucked down the side inside the dry bag or strapped to the outside. side pouches and top pouch, water bottles x 2 , first aid kit ,tarp,emergency tinder just in case,strikalight set sometimes,mug,head torch ,spare batts,chord,,oher food,knife and steel if not round neck,small stone, roll matt bungeed to the back and thats about it , prob left something out,funnily enough i remember the change over from 58 webbing to plce and the amount of kit we had to put in the 58 was stacks but went in then the plce came along and left us with loads of room,but i found the 58 more comfortable to wear but a pain to pack, and never used everything i took, adi007 makes alot of sense in what he says, saw a lectiure once about how to pack a bergen and thought whats the point but it made a lot of sense at the end,you`ll soon hear that voice in your head from plattoon saying "you`re humping to much stuff troop" :-D cheers

 

[Adi007]

:shock: That would be a massive roll! :shock: But it certainly would be a handy set up when it came to sleep time!

if you have a foam mat, dutch army bivy and a -2 celcius sleeping bag, this roll is going to be huge, though...

 

[PC2K]

well i am planning to replace mine foam mat with a prolite and mine sleeping bag with a +5 Celcius sleeping bag ( and maybe a lighter and smaller bivy... ) but thats a lot of ka-ching, so it is take awhile before i get to there... i actually keep the sleeping bag in the bag, because the rol is massive if you keep the bag in roll ( at this moment ). But i tryed everthing in one roll and like the ready to use effect, but it didn't came futher than mine bedroom door. The bivy/mat combo is suprisingly not that much bigger than just the mat it self....

 

[Adi007]

Yeah, we do that with the kids (they have foam while we use a thermarest so we can't do it that way) and it is surprisingly effective!

The bivy/mat combo is suprisingly not that much bigger than just the mat it self....

 

[Fallow Way]

Hi there,

Yes, I was amazed when I saw Lawerence (Woodlore Instructor) empty his tardis of a Snugpak. At the time I was using a 90ltr, and struggling to keep inside that, i was very bad at packing and taking soo many things that in hindsight seem stupid, but thats why its a learning curve.

Now I use a Snugpack 60lt (40ltr main compartment and two 10 ltr side pockets)

Main compartment

Sleeping bag - Woodlore Golden Eagle (15ltr ish) bit of a squeeze for the snugpack, but its only for some of the year, otherwise its a Woodlore Osprey

Bivibag/therm-a-rest or thermarest/eco sleep system - works out same size.

hten drybag with clothes and a few other small bits a peices.


Side pocket one

Billy Can, food, cutlery(stove if i can not have a fire)

Side Pocket two

2x Nato ltr flask, 6lt dromedry

thats about it, thats all the notable stuff, carry few bits onme, wet weather gear (jacket/gaiters etc) go in top pocket, first aid kit in underside packet.ve been meaning to take a picture of it all someday, i`ll try it for next weekend.

 

[sargey]

it's difficult to give packing recommendations without seeing how bulky each bit of kit is. i rarely use the side pockets on my cyclops crusader for going walkies, but when i did i used to have them set up as an instant daysack, brew kit, food, water, waterproofs, poncho and bungees. that sort of thing.

there're various systems for arranging kit in a ruck, some people swear by the column system, imagine the inside of your ruck divided into 2 or 3 columns, you can organise your kit so you know where everything is, a bit too complicated for me though.

i just use a layer system, keeping most likley needed stuff near the top, (brew kit, first aid kit waterproofs) and the last needed stuff near the bottom (change of clothes, sleeping bag)

one system i used with the good old horizontal zip bivi bag was to keep the bivivbag as the rucksack liner.all the soft stuff went in the foot end of the bivi bag,and all the hard stuff went in the top. easier to show than tell.

for bags without much padding you can use a flat layer system, keeping tarps and the like folded flat against the inside of the ruck to increase the padding between you and the gas-stove, billy cans etc.

i also use the all in one bedroll these days. the problemwith having loads of individual stuffsack is that you end up packing a lot of little balls inside a rectangular-ish container, so you pack alot of air and wasted space in there too, perhaps that's why the bedroll doesn't seem to take up too much space.

cheers, and.

 

[Martyn]

Wow, this is a great thread and thanks for all the repliy's guys. It wasn't untill I really started to think about packing methods, that I realised how difficult this is. It seems a real nack, especially trying to keep all the stuff down to a reasonable size. I took delivery of the sabre yesterday (very impressed) and I bought a medium Ortlieb at the same time, which I'm now wondering if it's necessary.

it's big & quite thick and seems a little unecessary, as the material of the sabre is this rubberised stuff, which seems pretty damned waterproof to me...

Do you guys use thes dry bags for anything else - as a camp water reservouir for example? That would justify taking it.

I got my sleeping bag down pretty small with the compression straps...

(cat is for scale... )

That goes in the bottom, everyone seems to like this. But the dutch army bivvi rolls up big all by itself. I guess it's gonna have to be bivvi/themarest roll slung on the outside somewhere. The 58 pattern poncho is huge too. If I put the poncho, bivi, thermarest & sleeping bag all inside the sabre, that's the main compartment full, so I'm gonna have to find alternatives. I think one of those cheapo pocket-poncho's will be in order.

It's gonna be tricky as I havent even started to think about clothes, cooking, food, water etc yet. I'm wondering if I can squeeze in a 3L cammelback as well, or if I'd be better off with 58 pattern water-bottles. Hmmm.

 

[Martyn]

By the way, where did you find your bag and what did it set you back? Will they even be available much longer?!? I like the look and thought it might be a more comfortable design than my Snugpak. Need to see one close up though to clinch it.

Best of luck!

I stumped up £80 for it from Drop Zone Supplies, I havent been able to find em cheaper online and unfortunately I'm a gazillion miles away from any YHA stores. It is great, well comfy, very tough, lots of features. I'm no expert, but I definitely like it, though I dont have much experience or equipment to compare.

 

[Adi007]

You'll need the dry bag! No matter how waterproof it all looks rain will still work in and find your clothes and sleeping bag! :shock: Also, dew can be a major problem and you also never know when you might get a dunk in a river of something ... then you'll be glad you sed the dry bag!

 

[Hoodoo]

Luv that cat pic! :biggthump

 

[Adi007]

Keep the cat away from the ruck and it might stay waterproof longer!!!!

 

[PC2K]

since we're talking about drybags and sabre 45's anyway, which dry bag fits the ruck the best ? all these drybags have tubular shape's. I was thinking of using a survival bag ( cheaper ) for that purpose, but those bags are HUGE. i can't stand the smell of the stronger type's of garbage bags and i tear those thin one's apart.

nice pic's ! the rubberized material will let some light through... not sure what to think of that.

 

[Viking]

A plastig bag will keep your hole bag dry, and it´s very cheap.

 

[Adi007]

A large poly survival bag is good ... and handy too!

 

[Martyn]

since we're talking about drybags and sabre 45's anyway, which dry bag fits the ruck the best ? all these drybags have tubular shape's. I was thinking of using a survival bag ( cheaper ) for that purpose, but those bags are HUGE. i can't stand the smell of the stronger type's of garbage bags and i tear those thin one's apart.

nice pic's ! the rubberized material will let some light through... not sure what to think of that.

I got an ortlieb 35L (medium) and it fits it very well - I cant explain why the pack is 45L and the 35L dry bag is more than big enough - but there ya go - it is though.

About the light thing, I wonder if the rubberised coating is translucent? I mean, just cos ya can see through it, doesnt necessarily mean water will get through.

 

[Gary]

Martyn I'll admit I havent read all this answers on here but as one thing I would point out is why carry a hootchie and a poncho? A poncho can do all the things a hootchie does and can also be your rain gear.

As for packing my top tip is put your sleeping bag in your bivvi bag and stuff this is the sack last - push it down into all the nooks and crannys ( forget the stuff sack) and then do the snow lock up. Also use the external attechement points. Get yourself some utility straps these are good for your roll mat and poncho ect leaving more room inside.

Hope that helped a little.