Kit for a weekend? Show me?

[malley]

Still deciding on my rucksack purchase. Frost River Bison was favourite but may be too small? Sabre 45 ( with pouches?), LK70 ( or LK35 ±greencraft frame?)or berghaus vulcan ( or munro with pouches?) . . .?etc. etc.

So, I wonder if anyone has pictures of the kit they take for a two night ( or one ) trip, away from the car and what they carry it in? I figure the people on here will have it down to a fine art and prevent me splashing out too much, let alone try to take far too much kit! Interested in all options - carrying/purifying water, tarp, bivvy, hammock, tent. Stoves, fire, boil-in-the-bag, etc.

Newbie question, I know. Just saw a couple of pics where people have all their gear including the rucksack laid out. Many thanks in advance.

Cheers,
Steve.

 

[Ahjno]

Don't have access to a camera ATM (I'll try and sort it this weekend) but can give a list of kit I used last week for a 2-nighter (summer):

All kit in 2 Lowe Alpine sidepouches (20 ltr)
- Aus. cam. poncho
- Softie Elite sleeping bag
- DPM bivvy bag (british army)
- Crusader mug & waterbottle
- Jiffy bag with: folding throwl, pack of tissues, sterigel, matches, lighter
- 3 Boil in bag meals (2x diner, 1 breakfast)
- ziplock bag with teabags, sugar & snacks (candy, salami, 1/2 cucumber)
- Trangia burner, Hexi-stove, Hexi & Meths (hexi as back-up, I only carry a small Meths bottle)
- Waterfilter
- Starchart (I'm working my way around nighttime navigation

- Strapped on the outside: 3/4 TaR sleeping mat

In Smock (Arktis Windsmock):
- Knife with DC4
- Lighter
- Button compass (to check direction with starchart)
- Pack of tissues
- Petzl headtorch
- Personal medication
- Coghlans FAK (#2) - (adjusted contents to my needs)


Didn't use a map / (big) compass as I was on familiar grounds

 

[malley]

Johan

Thanks for that. Nice and compact - all that in 20litres - excellent. Pictures will be interesting.

Cheers,
Steve.

 

[Shewie]

Just packing for a night out in the Lakes tomorrow, so far ....

Sabre 45
3/4 thermarest
Vango nitestar 2 season bag (nice and small)
Hotel mini soap bar, deoderant, toothpaste/brush & pack towel
Spare Ulfrotte 200g top & socks
Hammock and tapes in a 1L dry bag
Billy cans with brew kit/cup inside
Food for evening meal and breakfast + a few snacks
Stuff bag with main knife, TK4 (for prepping fish), cyalumes, 2 headtorches, paracord & minicrabs, ortleib roll-up water carrier
3x3 tarp & FAK in lid pocket
Cegga axe tied onto the side of the pack

I usually take far too much kit normally especially when I'm in the canoe. For winter camping though I need my Sabre 75 but that's only because I take a four season bag and an underblanket.

hth

 

[tobes01]

Haven't got time to list all the bits now, but I recently switched from a 120l Cyclops down to a Sabre 45 with a sidepouch and a medpak pouch (fantastic bit of kit). I reckon I could live indefinitely from a bag that size, but wouldn't have believed so when I first started.

I guess - at risk of sounding a bit patronising - that if you haven't done a weekend yet then don't buy a pack until you have. I'm a kit tart and bought loads of stuff before I'd has a chance to practice. There was nothing there that I'd call rubbish, but I've ditched a lot now that I've got the vaguest idea what I'm doing...

 

[tobes01]

Hang on - just remembered I do have a standard list! Here we go. All in a Sabre 45 plus side pouch and medpack:

Belt:
Possibles pouch
DC4 pouch
Knife
FAK

Main Pack:
Thermarest
Sleeping bag
Stratosphere bivi
Tarp
Tarp cord with light

Goretex sack containing:
Swanndri
Swazi jacket
Other clothes

Side Pouch:
Coffee pot, coffee
Stove
Food
Leather glove for fire

Medpack:
Keylight
Cyalume x2
Paracord
AA batteries x 9
Snares
Marker pen
After-bite
Cable ties
Lighter
GPS
Compass
First Aid Kit
Field dressing
Toothbrush
Toothpaste
Talc
Alum deodorant
Comb
Earplugs
Razor
Pine tar soap
Nail brush
Headnet
Insect repellent
Nordic summer
After bite
Wrist bands
Tea
Green tea
Sugar
Powdered milk
Whisky

 

[malley]

Tobes

Thanks for that. Yes, you are right, although I have done a fair bit but always within reach of the car. Obviously that leads to WAY overpacking! However, it's a slight chicken and egg scenario at the minute. I don't have a suitable rucksack, at present, that I could use for a two-dayer and want to learn from others experience.

You seem to have a set-up I have been considering. The Sabre seems real quality and the flexibility of the side pouches appear to lend themselves to multiple configurations depending on season, length of stay, etc?

All good stuff! Any photo's?

Cheers,
Steve.

 

[tobes01]

Will see if I can get some pics this evening.

Tobes

 

[tobes01]

OK, here we are. I'm not going to empty the main pack or side pouch (you can see from the list what I have).

In these pictures the 45 doesn't contain the sleeping bag (Snugpak Elite) because my son's just returned from a week's bushcrafting with it, and hasn't washed or changed his clothes in that time, the grubby little so-and-so. Will replace the bag once it's been shotblasted and treated with a biological decontaminant

Here's the medpack. Lovely bit of kit.

I'm a bit OCD-like in my packing, so it's great to have everything organised rather than stuffed into bags in the side pouch.

Really very pleased with this setup. The only downside is the medpack doesn't attach to the yoke for use as a daypack. I may scavenge some clips off an old side pouch and modify it so that it will.

Tobes

 

[malley]

Tobes

That is so satisfying! I must have OCD, too! That is my main concern - these things must be right and I think you have it pretty close. My list from the kit I have;

Terra Nova Voyager tent
Mtn Eqpt sleeping bag
Thermarest
Primus EtaPower stove/cookset.
2x Tikka headtorches
First aid kit
GB SFA
FGYT ( Duncan ) knife, w' firesteel. ( excellent btw.)
Leatherman wave.
Montane Superfly XT.
Karrimor overtrousers.
Washbag and travel towel.
Food - to be sorted - usually a whole crate in the car!
Book.
Journal, pencils, etc.
Map and compass.

Now that would see me but, I need to be able to take extra when my daughter comes. She is only 8 years old and not really up for yomping in a Bergen! The gear I have built up has to serve several purposes - hence the tent and stove set-up. So, overall do you think the Sabre 45 covers it?

 

[Tor helge]

This is what I use for a weekend trip in the autumn.
The ruck is a norwegian army issue. About 50-60 litres I guess.

Usually it is only the amount of food that decides if it is a weekend trip or a longer trek.
The food on this trip was (packed in the grey dry bag):

Half a kilo of bacon.
Half a kilo of flour (wheat).
Quarter kilo of coffee.
A small pack of raisins.
A bar of "pure" chokolate.
Salt and pepper.

I also had a rifle with me which doesnt show on the pic. A take down cal. 22. It was packed inside my "bedroll", above right. Just used it for plinking.

Tor

 

[tobes01]

If you're carry for an 8-year old as well then you need 100l+ - you'll need a decent weight sleeping bag to keep a kiddie warm, a second thermarest, bivi, change of clothes for her, fleece, waterproofs, water bottles, food. I'd be switching back to my 120l Cyclops for that sort of trip. Or better still, drive the Land Rover into the camp

Tobes

 

[malley]

There's the rub - the berghaus vulcan looks fantastic but probably too much for using the rest of the time. Just missed out on a Sabre 75 on here due to poor haggling! It's a financial issue really. Can't afford a slinky one man pack AND a real load carrier. MMMMmm. Ideally, something that can have sections/pouches added to create the capacity only when needed and be stripped down for daytrip/ overnighters for the majority of the time.

So, does anyone have just one bit of kit that can be adapted for solo/ father and daughter trips. I don't carry everything for her, just the bulkier stuff like sleeping bag, mat and foodstuffs.


Cheers,
Steve.

( edited sober )

 

[Front Room Woodlander]

I have a very large plastic box in the back of the van inwhixh I keep:
45 l rucksack, tarp, hammock, small tent, ground sheet, paracord, mess tins, charcoal, lighter matches, sporks, assortment of sharts, flint, tinder box, spare clothes for the bairns, towels and wash kit, sleeping bags, probably other stuff as well.
Food goes into a 45litre coolbox alongside.
We are a family of six so everything is multiplied.

On my own, whatever I need goes in the rucksack or doesnt go.

 

[sapper1]

When I take my son with me the only extras I carry are food .He carries his own sleeping bag,roll mat and bivi bag or hammock,his own cup and spoon and any other bits he wants.
I find my kit includes almost everything for two people My cooker (trangia ) has two pans and a frying pan any of which can be used as a plate or bowl,my tarp is big enough for two.my first aid kit will serve more than two,my repair kit will suffice for more than two,my wash kit the same.The only extras ,as I say are food and sleeping equipment,the sleeping equipment is bulky but is also probably the lightest kit we carry,this is why he carries his oown.

 

[johnboy]

There's the rub - the berghaus vulcan looks fantastic but probably too much for using the rest of the time.

The Vulcan is a fantastic bit of kit... You do not have to fill it up and if you ditch the sidepockets the main body of the sack is 75-80 ltrs So pretty much the same as the sabre 75.

Here it is without the sidepockets

Here's one being used by me partially filled but with sidepockets

The red pack on the left is something like 55-60 ltrs for comparison...

Hope this helps....

 

[sapper1]

You're wrong Johnboy,you have to fill it ,it's the law.
Seriously though the vulcan is a cracking bit of very versatile kit.There's a reason soldiers ditch the issue kit and buy these.

 

[johnboy]

You're wrong Johnboy,you have to fill it ,it's the law.

Hi Sapper,

Not here in NZ the terrain is not friendly to BIG bergens

It's the most cavernous thing know to man... I used to fill my old Crusader to the brim back in the day but I'm not lugging: radio batts, link and a couple of greenies around these days. Thankgoodness

See it
Love it
Use it....

 

[Scots_Charles_River]

Tobes,

Where did you get the medpack bag ?

Ta

Nick

 

[tobes01]

Here you go: http://www.surplusandadventure.com/...uipment-3/web-tex-dpm-medic-pouch-329444.html