Looking for a Rucksack...
- Thread starter shaneh
- Start date
'Now I know I have posted up a thread a couple of mo this ago looking for a new Rucksack, and to be honest I still cant make up my mind.
Currently I own a 75L ARC'TERYX Bag.
I try to get out for a two or a three nights at least once a month..
Looking at LBT and Mystery Ranch with a few others. I like burgens with a full access entry design ie. not from the top only. I like some sort of front opening device so that I can not only see everything I'm carrying, but get to stuff right at the bottom without taking everything out first...
However most companies rate there three day bags in there collection at 30L capacity.
Who on here can get a Sleeping Bag, Bivvi Bag, Rollmat, Basha (pegs bungees paracord) Cooking Equipment, 3 days of Rations and Brew Kit, Waterbottles, Water Purification, Spair Clothes, a Waterproof Jacket, Fleece... (and all the other small odds and sods like a Torch, Fire Lighting Kit, First Aid Kit, Knife, Saw, Radio. etc etc
Into a 30L bag ?
In the Army I had to struggle getting everything into 100L'
I dont think you can get everything into a 30L bag, at least without looking at what you are putting in it. And even then, its going to be tough. However, a 45-50L pack is doable, gives you flexibility, and isnt that difficult to get hold of. Osprey have several, and Mammut, Montane, Jack Wolfskin, Haglofs, Vaude, Deuter and Arc'teryx all have them. And no, you dont really need surplus - heavy, often no back system to speak of, and frankly, features often not applicable if your a civilian.
Mystery Ranch etc are nice, but you will struggle to find one in the UK to try out, and will perhaps pay accordingly when you do.
Having said that, the Mystery Ranch Raven 50 is available for £144, which is much the same as a Osprey Kestral 48, and the way it opens it might work for you.
Look at whats in your rucksack - do you need a rollmat (self inflating is way more comfortable )? The size and type of sleeping bag - down is much more compressible, down or synthetic jacket rather than fleece, etc. The smaller and lighter that stuff is, the easier it is to get a smaller bag. But you dont have to fill a large bag - its what suits you, and flexibility is always useful. I would far rather have a slightly larger bag and make life easy, rather than try to get everything into a bag that is far too small, and perhaps have to hang things off it..
Currently I own a 75L ARC'TERYX Bag.
I try to get out for a two or a three nights at least once a month..
Looking at LBT and Mystery Ranch with a few others. I like burgens with a full access entry design ie. not from the top only. I like some sort of front opening device so that I can not only see everything I'm carrying, but get to stuff right at the bottom without taking everything out first...
However most companies rate there three day bags in there collection at 30L capacity.
Who on here can get a Sleeping Bag, Bivvi Bag, Rollmat, Basha (pegs bungees paracord) Cooking Equipment, 3 days of Rations and Brew Kit, Waterbottles, Water Purification, Spair Clothes, a Waterproof Jacket, Fleece... (and all the other small odds and sods like a Torch, Fire Lighting Kit, First Aid Kit, Knife, Saw, Radio. etc etc
Into a 30L bag ?
In the Army I had to struggle getting everything into 100L'
I dont think you can get everything into a 30L bag, at least without looking at what you are putting in it. And even then, its going to be tough. However, a 45-50L pack is doable, gives you flexibility, and isnt that difficult to get hold of. Osprey have several, and Mammut, Montane, Jack Wolfskin, Haglofs, Vaude, Deuter and Arc'teryx all have them. And no, you dont really need surplus - heavy, often no back system to speak of, and frankly, features often not applicable if your a civilian.
Mystery Ranch etc are nice, but you will struggle to find one in the UK to try out, and will perhaps pay accordingly when you do.
Having said that, the Mystery Ranch Raven 50 is available for £144, which is much the same as a Osprey Kestral 48, and the way it opens it might work for you.
Look at whats in your rucksack - do you need a rollmat (self inflating is way more comfortable )? The size and type of sleeping bag - down is much more compressible, down or synthetic jacket rather than fleece, etc. The smaller and lighter that stuff is, the easier it is to get a smaller bag. But you dont have to fill a large bag - its what suits you, and flexibility is always useful. I would far rather have a slightly larger bag and make life easy, rather than try to get everything into a bag that is far too small, and perhaps have to hang things off it..
3 days mean 2 nights, 2breakfast and dinner 1 lunch maximum. I think that the sleeping bag may be the answer, smallest downbags some people take are tiny, but accordingly cool, so sleep in your coat and trousers. Smallest tents are a frame tarps put up with trekking poles. Not much cooking stuff, fuel or pans. No spare clothes. Freeze dried food and little of it. If you want to go like that thats fine.
Minimal for me is a 10 litre sleeping bag, bivvy,foam mat (10 litre ) 1/2litre of fuel cooker, 7 inch frying pan, 2kg food (eggs bread foam mat carried outside, eggs and bread get squashed by cramming them in a rucksack, but if anyone can show me how to cram eggs into ab bag please post pictures or even better a video)1 spare teeshirt 2 pants 3 socks.
Three day sacks is an group of sacks aimed at military and the goal was originaly go keep a soldier alive and funtional for three days. In that role most soldiers also have some kind of webing/west and a lot of stuff in pockets and the ability to share some equipment. That was the teory.
The british military went for something not only larger than 30 l but also somewhat more in tune with what a soldier actualy have to carry.
For a non soldier there is a lot of stuff that we doesn't have to carry that soldiers do but we also can pick our own level of comfort as in distance, food choices and sleeping arrangements. Therefor the size of the pack is a personal choice. One thing to consider is that more oppenings allmost always add weight but a 60 l Berghaus spartan fa have front opening (fa = front access), a zipper at the bottom and top oppening. It weight a bit more than a spartan without frontoppening and part of that is the extra zipper. There is a lot other differences that ad weight and some of them is removable.
The british military went for something not only larger than 30 l but also somewhat more in tune with what a soldier actualy have to carry.
For a non soldier there is a lot of stuff that we doesn't have to carry that soldiers do but we also can pick our own level of comfort as in distance, food choices and sleeping arrangements. Therefor the size of the pack is a personal choice. One thing to consider is that more oppenings allmost always add weight but a 60 l Berghaus spartan fa have front opening (fa = front access), a zipper at the bottom and top oppening. It weight a bit more than a spartan without frontoppening and part of that is the extra zipper. There is a lot other differences that ad weight and some of them is removable.
The Karrimor SF Sabre 45 might work for your three-day forays: good capacity, well-made, not too pricey and, when you want to head out for longer or in winter, easily extendable with a couple of side pockets.
I think Man of Tanith's earlier response on page one is about right. 30ltr for a daypack, 45ltr for a summer camp, 75ltr for a winter camp. With that said, much depends on what you're doing.
For example, there's a big difference in the kit that you'd take on a wildcamp + hike versus what you'd take on a more bushcraft orientated camp. My last camp (in August) was a hike and stealthy overnighter on a beach. I got all my kit into a 30ltr rucksack (the one exception being my two water bottles which were in the elasticated side pockets). I packed my small 7x5ft tarp, Brit army bivvy along with my S.I.M,one season sleeping bag. The cook kit was pared down to the bare necessities - trangia triangle and crusader cup!. I didn't need much in terms of spare clothing as it was August and temperatures were high. Any spare room in the rucksack was filled with food and a couple of beers! Sundry items were made up of a first aid kit, poo kit and sit mat.
The sleeping bag, is in my opinion the single item which dominates the amount of space that I need in my rucksack. My one season synthetic bag packs down nice and small and enables me to go with a 30-45ltr rucksack (either the: Jack Wolfksin 30ltr, 38ltr NI Patrol Pack or Karrimor Sabre 45 minus side pouches). I did away with all the heavy duty tools such as the fixed blade knife, axe and saw as they simply weren't needed (a fire wasn't on the agenda).
When the temperatures drop, it's once again time to break out the 3 season bag and as a consequence, I find myself reaching for the larger rucksack (Karrimor Sabre 45 + pouches = 75ltr). This also enables me to pack some additional layers of clothing.
If it's a more bushcraft orientated trip into my woodland permission, then of course all the crafty tools come out to play and they of course take up more room in the bag. Also, if I know that I'm going to be having a fire then I usually feel compelled to bring some heavy duty cookware such as my cast iron pan and/or billy can and I'll cook some good food over the fire (I'll be havin' none of that adventure food muck!!).
There are occasions when you might be able to shoe horn this kit into a smaller rucksack, but what's the point? Overpacking a rucksack will not only compromise the construction but it will also make it a little less comfortable to carry. To that end, I think a 65-75ltr pack is ample for most situations in the UK.
For example, there's a big difference in the kit that you'd take on a wildcamp + hike versus what you'd take on a more bushcraft orientated camp. My last camp (in August) was a hike and stealthy overnighter on a beach. I got all my kit into a 30ltr rucksack (the one exception being my two water bottles which were in the elasticated side pockets). I packed my small 7x5ft tarp, Brit army bivvy along with my S.I.M,one season sleeping bag. The cook kit was pared down to the bare necessities - trangia triangle and crusader cup!. I didn't need much in terms of spare clothing as it was August and temperatures were high. Any spare room in the rucksack was filled with food and a couple of beers! Sundry items were made up of a first aid kit, poo kit and sit mat.
The sleeping bag, is in my opinion the single item which dominates the amount of space that I need in my rucksack. My one season synthetic bag packs down nice and small and enables me to go with a 30-45ltr rucksack (either the: Jack Wolfksin 30ltr, 38ltr NI Patrol Pack or Karrimor Sabre 45 minus side pouches). I did away with all the heavy duty tools such as the fixed blade knife, axe and saw as they simply weren't needed (a fire wasn't on the agenda).
When the temperatures drop, it's once again time to break out the 3 season bag and as a consequence, I find myself reaching for the larger rucksack (Karrimor Sabre 45 + pouches = 75ltr). This also enables me to pack some additional layers of clothing.
If it's a more bushcraft orientated trip into my woodland permission, then of course all the crafty tools come out to play and they of course take up more room in the bag. Also, if I know that I'm going to be having a fire then I usually feel compelled to bring some heavy duty cookware such as my cast iron pan and/or billy can and I'll cook some good food over the fire (I'll be havin' none of that adventure food muck!!).
There are occasions when you might be able to shoe horn this kit into a smaller rucksack, but what's the point? Overpacking a rucksack will not only compromise the construction but it will also make it a little less comfortable to carry. To that end, I think a 65-75ltr pack is ample for most situations in the UK.
I just bought a Viking Patrol Pack 60l from Wylie's Outdoors, it's main compartment zip goes from the top all the way to the bottom so you can open it out flat and see everything in there like you wanted. It also has straps so you can pin everything to the side instead of having it fall out everywhere when you open it and lots of Molle attachments at the back and side for hanging extra gear off. I did a video of it for some facebook groups, happy to send you the video of it over facebook Messenger.
I've got a Sabre 45 with the army side pouches as well, which make it a brilliant 65ltr pack. As I mentioned in my earlier post, I use it for winter in the mountains or trips over a week long. It's a really good pack.
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Arktis do a 35L with space for side pockets which I think would bring it up to 55L - I always check ebay first
I'm trying to stay at the 45 range, water was one of the single most heavy carry's, that can't be got round but using a bladder mean's the bulk was at least flexi, and pad's my back as for the sleeping bag, I'm going to have to spend, £300 should do it! I know it seems crazy but its a small hit in the wallet for some thing that lasts a life time, and I would be spending days most likely climbing or the like and a day of that you can feel really worked over, so yeah carrying the same kit for less weight is deffo the way for me.
