How do you carry it all?

[SimonM]

Simon, Where do you carry your platypus?I find mine gets squashed inside the pack so I have tried to strap it to the outside.But I'm not really happy with it .

The Sabre has a purpose built sleeve inside, against you back. I also carry my sit mat in there.

Simon

 

[Crowe]

Hi Jim,
How you carry your kit to where you want to be is not important;be it backyard or backwoods: pack, bike, motorcycle, car,canoe , horse, dog ,goat or sherpa. It really doesn't matter. So long as its not burdonsome to the point of displeasure or ordeal.
Bush craft to me is about enjoying the outdoors. The wife and I have a great time just wandering and having a brew.
Crowe

 

[Shewie]

The Sabre has a purpose built sleeve inside, against you back. I also carry my sit mat in there.

Simon

Is there a route out for the hose though Simon or do you just feed it through the top and under the lid ? I've never actually looked at either of mine that closely.

 

[sapper1]

Simon ,I know about the sleeve but do you not find if the bladder is full there is a danger of it leaking into the sack.I does worry me quite a bit.

Shewie there a a hole with a flap on either side of the pack at the top near the lid corners to route the hose through.

 

[NatG]

been thinking about this recently and i think i've worked out lots of my problems:

I take too many clothes- for a weekend i do NOT need 3 sets of clothes.

I take too much food, including snacks and rubbish.

I take stuff for the journey there and back, phones, books, gadgets etc.

I take WAY too many knives.

All i think i really need is a few different areas:

clothing- what i've got on plus one spare set.
sleeping- tent, mat, bag, pillow ( i just can't sleep without a pillow)
Eating: Food, water, cooker, fuel
Washing: micro towel, toothbrush, soap, toothpaste
Tools: Knife and saw, maybe carving roll if i'm going to get a chance to use it.
First aid kit including sewing kit and multitool.

i think thats al i need, and could live quite comfortably with it!

 

[SimonM]

Simon ,I know about the sleeve but do you not find if the bladder is full there is a danger of it leaking into the sack.I does worry me quite a bit.

Shewie there a a hole with a flap on either side of the pack at the top near the lid corners to route the hose through.

I've used a Platypus for well over 10 years and never had one leak.

I have had them freeze up in the tube though, so now blow the water back into the bladder when I have finished drinking!

Simon

 

[Shewie]

Shewie there a a hole with a flap on either side of the pack at the top near the lid corners to route the hose through.

Cheers Sapper, I'll have a look at that when I get home tonight

 

[Twodogs]

On the sabre I fit 3lt camelbak between the side pouch and the pack fits ok ,bit tight maybe ..
Twodogs

 

[gregorach]

Simon ,I know about the sleeve but do you not find if the bladder is full there is a danger of it leaking into the sack.I does worry me quite a bit.

Those platypus bottles are remarkably robust. I've crammed one full of beer (and hence under pressure) into my pack and sat on it with no problems.

 

[Shewie]

been thinking about this recently and i think i've worked out lots of my problems:

I take too many clothes- for a weekend i do NOT need 3 sets of clothes.

I take too much food, including snacks and rubbish.

I take stuff for the journey there and back, phones, books, gadgets etc.

I take WAY too many knives.

All i think i really need is a few different areas:

clothing- what i've got on plus one spare set.
sleeping- tent, mat, bag, pillow ( i just can't sleep without a pillow)
Eating: Food, water, cooker, fuel
Washing: micro towel, toothbrush, soap, toothpaste
Tools: Knife and saw, maybe carving roll if i'm going to get a chance to use it.
First aid kit including sewing kit and multitool.

i think thats al i need, and could live quite comfortably with it!

Try writing a list of what you pack next time you're out Nat, then when you get back home you can see which items have not been used.
I used to carry full changes of clothes but now I just take a change of top for each day. I now only carry one main knife and a smaller TK4 for game prep etc. There's nowt wrong with having too much food though

 

[John Fenna]

How do I carry it all - slowly and painfully!

I realy must learn to go lightweight.........but I enjoy comforts in camp!

 

[sapper1]

You need a new van John,then you could go quicker and in comfort.
If the original poster came to one of our meets he'd see more kit than he could shake a stick at.
at one meet I remember:-
1 oven
3 dutch ovens
enough billys to make a scrap dealer cry
Seating for a dozen
One member even made a bed.
It all comes down to what makes you comfortable,like you John I like my comfort.

 

[sirex]

oh how i'd laugh if someone took a flatpack MFI / IKEA bed

 

[firecrest]

This thread is going down the usual route of who's the most bushcrafty, me or you ?
Jims original post asked how we carried our kit not who can "survive" with the least gear, which doesn't make you a better person btw.

Who cares anyway, just take from it what you want. We all like bushcraft otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation in the first place.

No Jims original post did not ask where we all store our kit but is passing a snide remark that if everybody HAS so much kit how do they carry it ? "or are you all backyard bushcrafters" This is a thread deliberately intended to start a flame war, not a nice discussion about carrying kit.

Jim what is wrong with "backyard bushcrafting?" Who looks down on people who have job/time commitments, live in a city or cannot get out to the woods? We even have patio bushcrafters in here, and heaven forbid , most of my time Im an attic bushcrafter!
I think the term backyard bushcrafting when used to look down on people is pathetic.
I can still learn to bowdrill in the backyard. I have tanned a deerskin in the attic. I learned my plant ID from a book and the internet. so what?

 

[sapper1]

The flame war didn't even get of the ground though did it.Myself I find backyard bushcraft is a good way of ensuring I can do it when I get out into the "real" bush.

 

[xylaria]

There is also allotment bushcraft, for those that are so deprived we haven't even got a backyard [big aahhhh please!!]. I like IDing the edibles that grow between the cracks of pavements too.

 

[forestwalker]

clothing- what i've got on plus one spare set.

I tend to not carry spare clothes much. Instead I carry clothes that I can survive wearing when wet. Sing praise to the sacred sheep, for she gives the wool that warms us on cold days, yea, even in on the wet days.

sleeping- tent, mat, bag, pillow ( i just can't sleep without a pillow)

I generally find that the sleeping bag stuff sack makes a perfect pillow, when filled with some clothes.

Eating: Food, water, cooker, fuel

Spoon? Cup? I tend to eat out of the pot when out solo, and only bring a bowl when sharing food with others. Since I often have "normal" food I opften carry some sort of cutting board, either a small wooden "sandwich" board or a larger sheet of thin birch ply. One could cut a piece from one of those flexi cutting boards if one wanted (a round piece inside the Trangia?)

i think thats al i need, and could live quite comfortably with it!

Yep, one does not actually need much kit to be comfortable. I always bring the luxuary items on a "do I really need this?" basis, and that is generally things like binoculars, a book, etc, not a full set of extra clothes or a folding chair.

 

[firecrest]

Yep. people are generally too nice

I think we need a bushcraft programe entitled Backyard Bushcraft It would be relevant and accessible to people who might not otherwise get out .This is why blue Peter was so successful - it built on the subject of teaching children to be creative without having to search very far for the materials.
The subject matter would be endless to - eating and skinning roadkill in the home, herbs to plant in the garden, knife making at home, crafts, household items you can make into camping gear - ie billycans and home made tents. And we could have a trip round the local supermarkets to show what widely available foods you can buy that make the best things to take camping.

 

[John Fenna]

Backyard = schoolroom
Bush = real life/ bush
Those who dont spend enough time in the backyard practicing their skills may suffer in the bush.....
When I test gear for my review columns or before I use it on expeditions it gets a hammering in the garden/lanes around our village/my little bit of woods - all within wimping distance of my warm dry comfy home. Then - if it proves OK it gets used further afield.
Much of my foraging skill (well all of it realy - there is not much to boast about...) was honed on garden "weeds" and the local hedgerows.
Backyard Bushcrafter? - I should hope so!
The gear I use "in the field" has all been proven close to home.
If I am close to my van, well luxury/spares/lending kit/for sale kit/toys to play with (ie gadgets and "interesting ideas")/booze/too much food all come along.
If I have to carry it all for days on end - then it is pared down to essentials (though even these weigh too darn much going on steep uphills!).
If I am basecamping it for a few days then I am willing to carry excess weight on the way in and out, purely for the comfort it brings for the majority of the time I am out.
Canoe trips allow more gear to be carried for little extra effort (as long as there are no big portages!) and there are several companies that advertise pack pony trips into the wilds of Mid-Wales.
The old exponents of Bushcraft - the Pioneers of the Americas, Oz and South Africa, were not averse to taking a wagon with them to carry their heavy gear.......they still lived off the land for the majority of their needs, but could still carry the heavy gear, such as tentage, cast iron cookwear, wives etc
The natives of the Americas took to using horses as soon as they arrived, while some of the Oz locals were content to subsist owning no more than they could carry in one hand....South American Indians, at the southern tip, are reported to not even have owned clothing other than a grass(?) cloak...
Ray Mears often uses a Landy to get about with all his kit BG an aeroplane (until he throws it away..)
But then I prefer to use more locally indiginous forms of transport - a White Van!
There is no "I am better than you coz" it is all about doing what you feel happy with, carrying the gear that suits you in the manner that you feel comfortable with....IMHO

 

[NatG]

No Jims original post did not ask where we all store our kit but is passing a snide remark that if everybody HAS so much kit how do they carry it ? "or are you all backyard bushcrafters" This is a thread deliberately intended to start a flame war, not a nice discussion about carrying kit.

Jim what is wrong with "backyard bushcrafting?" Who looks down on people who have job/time commitments, live in a city or cannot get out to the woods? We even have patio bushcrafters in here, and heaven forbid , most of my time Im an attic bushcrafter!
I think the term backyard bushcrafting when used to look down on people is pathetic.
I can still learn to bowdrill in the backyard. I have tanned a deerskin in the attic. I learned my plant ID from a book and the internet. so what?

erm...? chill