minimum weight carried for a 4 day trip

[miyakoboy]

I've been on a weight saving frenzy the last couple of days and i cannot get my rucksack weight any lower than 20 / 25 kg. heres what i have in it

sleeping bag 1300 g
pillow 200 g
thermarest 800g
bivvi bag 1300 g
basha 1200 g
hammock 300 g
knife
firestick
para cord
stove set 980 g
knife fork spoon
camel back
map holder
map
compass
extra water carrier 1 litre
gortex jacket
trousers
shorts
SHEMAGH
medi kit
torch
survival tin
Mug
food

Do you think there is anything i can do without?

 

[Stuart]

why does your stove set weight almost a kilo? is it a petrol stove?

you'll be fine with just your spoon, your already carrying a knife and you dont need a fork.

you dont need a pillow. use your clothes (stuff a t-shirt with your other clothes)

thats a heavy bivibag too..

 

[Rod]

Hi,

You could 'loose' the pillow and substitute for a pillow case that you could stuff clothes in.

Your kit choices are all sound - you have few luxuries or extra 'stuff'. What you have to look at now is how much things weight. i.e. Can I get a lighterweight one?

e.g. Could you carry a lighter sleeping bag for the average nightime temperature that you are expecting? As your experience level increases you will know what you can achieve with your kit and what you can get away with/without!

Let me know if I can be of further help

regards

 

[Not Bob]

My immediate suggestions for what to leave at home, presuming the kit list is for lowland UK at this time of year:
hammock - sleep on the ground
eating knife and fork - you've got a knife and there's nothing you can't eat with a spoon if you cut it up small enough (or use your fingers)
map holder - use a clear plastic bag
pillow - use your spare clothes

Do you really need a shemagh or survival tin?

I'd probably ditch the thermarest for a cut down foam pad if weight was an issue.

Your stove set which I presume includes cookpots seems a bit heavy. How many cookpots do you have? Cook in your mug perhaps.
How much food are you carrying?
How much stuff do you have in your FAK?
How big is your torch? Get up at the crack of dawn and go to bed when it gets dark.

In the end it all depends on how much you're prepared to rough it, after ensuring you've got enough kit to keep you alive.

 

[Steve K]

Maybe you could improvise a pillow from clothes or the shamagh.

Do you need both a bivi bag and hammock?

I might be tempted to leave the knife and fork at home and take just a spoon using just your other knife.

I don't know what is in your stove set but maybe you dont need all of it?

Cheers

 

[Not Bob]

Forgot to ask, what sort of rucksack have you got and how much does it weigh?
Is the weight of the rucksack included in the 20/25 kg total?

 

[miyakoboy]

to be honest i have been sleeping out for the last 10 years and need some luxuries. You will be surprise as to how heavy a trangia swedish army mess kit weighs ( 800g + meths). I bring a variety of sleeping equipment as i usually take in 3 environments on my trips around the cost. ie cliffs, beach and woodland. I could ditch the hammock - but its only a little extra bit of weight. The rucksack i use is a berghaus 70 litre job. As for the pillow i can ditch that and use a stuff sack with bits in.

 

[sandbender]

Heres my thru-pence worth...

sleeping bag 1300 g
pillow 200 g - chuck this, try 'rolling' your clothes in to tight cylinders, makes a good headrest and keeps them looking tidy.

thermarest 800g
bivvi bag 1300 g - this seems heavy for a bivvi?, do you need it, will it rain so much?

basha 1200 g

hammock 300 g - handy I know, but every gram adds up, do you need all these sleeping combinations?

knife
firestick
para cord
stove set 980 g - does this include fuel? are you carrying more fuel than you will need? Cook and eat in your mug, chuck spare pans.

knife fork spoon - throw fork away
camel back
map holder - treat map with that nikwax stuff and chuck this
map
compass
extra water carrier 1 litre - How much water do you need to carry?

gortex jacket
trousers
shorts
SHEMAGH - The most versatile bit of kit you can have, keep this!

medi kit - how big is this, do you need everything in there?

torch - If it isn't already, get one of those little baby LED ones

survival tin - Do you need this? you have everything you need to survive already.

Mug

food - Are you carrying more food than you will really need, can you buy/obtain stuff during the trip?

Try walking a few miles with your pack before you leave, this may give you an added incentive to shed those extra grams..






Have fun...

 

[miyakoboy]

ps my bivvi bag is a gore tex job - i could ditch the basha, but nobody likes rain when you are trying to cook!

 

[Doc]

Mmmm. The tricky bit is going lighter without spending oodles of cash!

Comparing to my kit:

Sleeping bag: my 2 season bag (Snugpak) is about 300g less.
Pillow. Don't take one. 200g less.
Thermarest. Mine is the Higlander Ultra lightweight. Less comfy but 300g less.
Bivi/Bash/Hammock totals 2800g. My tent is Old Argos at 2kg (800g less). If you're rich an Akto tent is 1.5kg. Snugpak bivvis are light but maybe less robust.
Knife; stick tang is lighter than a Woodlore. Maybe 150g?
Goretex jacket- the Goretex Paclite is very light but expensive and maybe flimsy. Not tried it.
Food: If I'm out for 4 days it will be all dehydrated.
Stove - yeah, I'm guilty too. I carry a kilogram of Swedish messkit - the robustness and versatility makes it tempting. But on the hills I might just take the burner plus a small billy plus improvised windshield/pot support.

 

[leon-1]

What basha are you using???

At 1.2 Kg it weighs more than a bag of sugar and I don't think I have one that weighs more than 600grams, I'll check, but that seems a little heavy.

Don't bother with shorts, take trousers which you can zip the legs off.

The pillow thing has been done to death so I am not going to go there.

If you know where you are going, plan it so that you only require hammock or bivvi bag.

What is the 1 litre water carrier, is it a hard plastic bottle or a flexi bottle, if it is hard plastic change it for a platypus style flexible water bottle, they weigh nothing and pack down to nothing once finished with.

Look up the plans for a coke can stove, they weigh virtually nothing and are reasonably efficient. Cook in your cup.

Use dried bulk foods including, dried fruit, noodles, rice and take spices. Add tuna, other meats available in foil packs or Biltong/Jerky for protiens.

Do you prefer tea or coffee, don't carry both and if you can drink tea/coffee black ditch the milk powder or whitener.

 

[wentworth]

I have a ripstop hootchie that weighs 550 grams, is yours made of a really thick material?
I made my own quilt from a kit. At 800grams with 2 inches of loft it's lighter than the equivalent sleeping bag.
Do you need a thermarest in a hammock? Could you use an extra wide foam mat? My foam mat trimmed down (3/4) weighs 180 grams.
Isn't it a bit of a bugger to climb into a bivibag and then into a hammock?

Have a look at www.imrisk.com
This guy is an ultralightweight hammocker who makes all his own gear. I've learnt a fair bit from his site and now my gear for (Australian) winter conditions weighs around 5kg

 

[Hoodoo]

I think I agree with most folks about what to leave behind. An 8x10 silnylon tarp would be much lighter than the basha. I would get a shorter Thermarest if you are using a full length one. If you want, you could then carry a small, light piece of closed cell foam for a pad for your feet. It also doubles as a "camp chair." It's worth the weight.

If your cooking is not intense, leave the stove home and cook with esbit fuel.

You need a good windscreen to make this work and it takes a bit of practice but it can be very effective. Twig stoves are another good option.

I would lose the bivy and get some light polyethylene to use for a ground sheet. I would add a silnylon poncho. This can be your cooking flysheet and a place to store dry wood if needed. A good place to "hang out" during heavy rain. A spot of tea makes it cozy.

1 liter pop bottles are tough and make good water bottles. Very light.

I would accumulate light substitutes for everthing. Get a titanium spoon and a titanium pot. Leave the knife and fork home.

I'm not sure where all your weight is coming from. Given what you have listed, there must be some other items that contribute a lot. How much does your survival tin weigh? Does the weight listed include water? Are the clothes listed spare clothes?

 

[Spacemonkey]

That Basha is very heavy. My brit army bivvy weighs a ton, but allows a lighter weight sleeping bag. Mine weighs about 800g I think. I use the US army jungle hammock which is very lightweight, with the above and it's easy enough to get in. Get in the bag and basha first then maggot your way into the hammock, then once in, get your arms in the bags. I use two very lightweight US army ponchos poppered together as a basha. This works absolutely fine, and of course means you can ditch the heavy gore tex waterproof kit, as they can be used a poncho too..... When plodding about, I use the US army 2litre bottle, which is square and has a shoulder strap. This is always filled with drinking water and slung over head and shoulder so I can swig as a walk without dropping kit, or weighing down on beltkit. It also relieves somw rucksack weight too, and adds counterbalance as I wear it up front. Then when I hit camp, the folding bladder comes out to be filled with filtered water.

 

[Spacemonkey]

Oh, I forgot-ditch the torch and get the excellent Petzl Tikka Plus 4 LED headtorch. Weighs nothing, bright light in red or white and frees up both hands. Just blinds your mate though when you talk to them, but heck, at least you can see them.

 

[arctic hobo]

It's quite up to you, but to sleep in all this:
o Basha
o Hammock
o Bivvi Bag
o Thermarest
o Sleeping bag
o Pillow
...is excessive to say the least! If you have a basha, you don't need the bivvi bag. Bivvi bags are for when you have that + a sleeping bag, they're not designed to work with hammocks and there's certainly no point in having one if there's a basha above you - they are much more versatile so keep this rather than the bag. The thermarest is unnecessary, as unless you have a very cheap sleeping bag, 1300g will easily keep you warm in a hammock in the UK - it's midsummer you know! And as everyone else has said, the pillow is quite unecessary. Especially in a hammock, as you're bending your spine even more than the hammock is already (even asyms aren't properly flat), so it will feel awful in the morning.

 

[alick]

Set a lower limit - say 35lb - then start with your pack and add things in priority order until you hit the weight limit. Leave everything else behind.

You only need a wooden spoon to go with the knife.
You can make do with a crusader mug and cook in that. Add one billy max for gourmet / open fire cooking. I'd never pack a trangia type rig - far too heavy - esp the meths. If you need to carry a burner - get a micro weight gas unit like an optimus crux or the little £30 MSR and size your gas can to the trip.
One 3L dromedary or platypus is plenty.
I put up with the weight of a bivvy bag and thermarest - I reckon you need them to protect a decent down bag in crappy weather
A 600g silnylon tarp from kathmandu trekking - optionally used with a hennessy ultralight hammock (leave the hammock fly at home) are "luxuries" but yes I'd take them too.
Petzl tikka plus - deffo !
Leave behind the stuff others have commented on.
Think trade off's - rather have 2-3 extra dehydrated main meals or that extra billy ?

You should be able to get under 40lbs - why not try and get under 30 !

Last thought - the 70 litre pack doesn't help - if you only had 40 litres of space the pack would be lighter and you'd be less tempted to fill it.

 

[nodd]

The ammount of gear expands to fill the avilable space
the best way i have found is leave out what you did not use on your trip the next time you pack.

 

[Chopper]

Do you need to consider water purification?

Puritabs would be the best and lightest option, but make sure that you take enough.