So, following on from last months post trip gear testing [thread=121881]post[/thread], I thought I'd do the same following this [thread=122784]weeks trip[/thread].
My aim for the pack on this trip was to reduce weight. Last time my base pack weight was 13kg, 16kg with food and water for 24 hours. I succeeded, this time it was 11kg base weight, I then blew this with 5kg of food and water for the same 16kg. Tho this was for 48 hours, rather than 24.
Water wise, I left my stainless steel nalgene bottle at home, and took a 1.25L diet coke bottle for clean water, and a 0.5l diet coke bottle to drink from. One thing I realised on the previous trip was I wanted tea, and had water made up with squash, but not water for making tea. So I by using the two bottles, I had more flexibility. I made up squash as I needed it using Robinson's Squash'd squeezy bottles. More on this shortly. Because I couldn't realistically carry 48 hours of water with me, I took my new Sawyer mini filter. This also allowed me to carry less water, I started with 2.25L last time, and 1.75L this time. The switch from the stainless steel nalgene bottle to the 0.5l coke bottle saved me 325g. Offset slightly by the extra 100g for the sawyer.
The other major change in my pack was the pack itself. My old Deuter Futura 32AC that I have used as hand bag, day bag and general shopping bag for something like 7 years, had finally seen it's last trip. This trip I took out my new Osprey Tempest 30 (ladies version of the talon 33). I was apprehensive about the pack, wasn't sure if it would be able to take the complete load out I needed for the weekend. Short version it did. I will do a proper longer review in the reviews section, but for now I will mention that this switch got me another 800g saving.
Last time I had proven to myself that the loft insulation foil bubble wrap stuff was good enough for a ground pad under my Exped Synmat 7 UL, that I left my German army folding sleep matt at home. I don't have the weight of the German Army Folding Sleep matt to hand, but I think this may account for another 250-400g of savings.
I was slightly concerned about the exped matt slipping off the insulation, so I took some 3mm shock cord I picked up at a London chandlers (I live 6 miles from the coast, but went to a chandlers in the smoke, go figure) and made a pair of over grown elastic bands. I made them slightly adjustable through the use of a pair of double fisherman's knots. These then went round the two matts and stopped the two sliding apart too much. They would have worked better had I inflated the matt a little more after the temp dropped over 6°C between inflation on Friday and waking up Sunday, the matt was quite soft this morning. The two bands weight 10.8g and 9.4g and I think were worth the weight. I may investigate some 2mm shock cord in future, and have 3 bands rather than 2. The bands also allowed me to stick my pillow and bivvi bag under them during the day so they didn't blow away, a useful bonus.
This trip I took the opportunity to take the old larger line loks off my basha and replace them with smaller glow in the dark line loks. In theory this is a 7.6g saving. But it wasn't about the weight. I wanted to see how well they worked. I've had the bag of line loks on my desk for a few days, and it was eery the way they glowed when I turned the light out and went to bed. I had reservations about sticking glow in the dark items on a camouflage basha, the idea kinda seems contradictory, but the reality was, they allowed you to spot the guy lines at a few paces, but from 50 paces, you couldn't see them, giving a really nice compromise between visibility and stealth. I will certainly replace all my line loks with the glow in the dark version now.
As well as taking food that was far too heavy, I experimented with the bottles that the Robinson's Squash'd come in. I used one for olive oil, one for salad cream, and also one in it's original state for squash. These bottles are proving to be really versatile and I will get a few more for other condiments. I did learn the hardway to be very careful when washing them out. Having salad cream that tastes slightly blackcurranty is sub optimal.
The other two items I had with me that proved unexpectedly useful was a kitchen sink and a sea to summit Outhouse. The later is a dry bag specifically designed to hold loo roll. It has a bar inside it so that the loo roll can rotate, and a cord you put round your neck, or hang off a branch. The design keeps your loo roll dry even in the rain, as it comes out the bottom of the bag, and it makes squatting over a hole in the ground a lot easier. The only slight gripe was that the bag is designed for a slightly smaller bag than the standard ones I have in the loo at home, so to start the roll you have to coax it a bit more than later in use. The kitchen sink proved very useful for washing up the groups dishes, and also as a generally useful dirty water container. I am tempted to get the sea-to-summit sil nylon version, which is only 49g, tho the 86g this one weighs is very respectable.
Over all the difference of the 11kg I walked out with this morning was amazing. That 11kg included my tripod (1.2kg), but not my camera. My hope of getting a pack of under 9kg excluding camera kit, food, and fuel looks attainable. Whilst maintaining the same level of comfort.
So that's the results of this weekends kit testing. Next month, improvements in the bug protection I hope!
Julia
My aim for the pack on this trip was to reduce weight. Last time my base pack weight was 13kg, 16kg with food and water for 24 hours. I succeeded, this time it was 11kg base weight, I then blew this with 5kg of food and water for the same 16kg. Tho this was for 48 hours, rather than 24.
Water wise, I left my stainless steel nalgene bottle at home, and took a 1.25L diet coke bottle for clean water, and a 0.5l diet coke bottle to drink from. One thing I realised on the previous trip was I wanted tea, and had water made up with squash, but not water for making tea. So I by using the two bottles, I had more flexibility. I made up squash as I needed it using Robinson's Squash'd squeezy bottles. More on this shortly. Because I couldn't realistically carry 48 hours of water with me, I took my new Sawyer mini filter. This also allowed me to carry less water, I started with 2.25L last time, and 1.75L this time. The switch from the stainless steel nalgene bottle to the 0.5l coke bottle saved me 325g. Offset slightly by the extra 100g for the sawyer.
The other major change in my pack was the pack itself. My old Deuter Futura 32AC that I have used as hand bag, day bag and general shopping bag for something like 7 years, had finally seen it's last trip. This trip I took out my new Osprey Tempest 30 (ladies version of the talon 33). I was apprehensive about the pack, wasn't sure if it would be able to take the complete load out I needed for the weekend. Short version it did. I will do a proper longer review in the reviews section, but for now I will mention that this switch got me another 800g saving.
Last time I had proven to myself that the loft insulation foil bubble wrap stuff was good enough for a ground pad under my Exped Synmat 7 UL, that I left my German army folding sleep matt at home. I don't have the weight of the German Army Folding Sleep matt to hand, but I think this may account for another 250-400g of savings.
I was slightly concerned about the exped matt slipping off the insulation, so I took some 3mm shock cord I picked up at a London chandlers (I live 6 miles from the coast, but went to a chandlers in the smoke, go figure) and made a pair of over grown elastic bands. I made them slightly adjustable through the use of a pair of double fisherman's knots. These then went round the two matts and stopped the two sliding apart too much. They would have worked better had I inflated the matt a little more after the temp dropped over 6°C between inflation on Friday and waking up Sunday, the matt was quite soft this morning. The two bands weight 10.8g and 9.4g and I think were worth the weight. I may investigate some 2mm shock cord in future, and have 3 bands rather than 2. The bands also allowed me to stick my pillow and bivvi bag under them during the day so they didn't blow away, a useful bonus.
This trip I took the opportunity to take the old larger line loks off my basha and replace them with smaller glow in the dark line loks. In theory this is a 7.6g saving. But it wasn't about the weight. I wanted to see how well they worked. I've had the bag of line loks on my desk for a few days, and it was eery the way they glowed when I turned the light out and went to bed. I had reservations about sticking glow in the dark items on a camouflage basha, the idea kinda seems contradictory, but the reality was, they allowed you to spot the guy lines at a few paces, but from 50 paces, you couldn't see them, giving a really nice compromise between visibility and stealth. I will certainly replace all my line loks with the glow in the dark version now.
As well as taking food that was far too heavy, I experimented with the bottles that the Robinson's Squash'd come in. I used one for olive oil, one for salad cream, and also one in it's original state for squash. These bottles are proving to be really versatile and I will get a few more for other condiments. I did learn the hardway to be very careful when washing them out. Having salad cream that tastes slightly blackcurranty is sub optimal.
The other two items I had with me that proved unexpectedly useful was a kitchen sink and a sea to summit Outhouse. The later is a dry bag specifically designed to hold loo roll. It has a bar inside it so that the loo roll can rotate, and a cord you put round your neck, or hang off a branch. The design keeps your loo roll dry even in the rain, as it comes out the bottom of the bag, and it makes squatting over a hole in the ground a lot easier. The only slight gripe was that the bag is designed for a slightly smaller bag than the standard ones I have in the loo at home, so to start the roll you have to coax it a bit more than later in use. The kitchen sink proved very useful for washing up the groups dishes, and also as a generally useful dirty water container. I am tempted to get the sea-to-summit sil nylon version, which is only 49g, tho the 86g this one weighs is very respectable.
Over all the difference of the 11kg I walked out with this morning was amazing. That 11kg included my tripod (1.2kg), but not my camera. My hope of getting a pack of under 9kg excluding camera kit, food, and fuel looks attainable. Whilst maintaining the same level of comfort.
So that's the results of this weekends kit testing. Next month, improvements in the bug protection I hope!
Julia
