Weight Reduction Advise

Ben · Jul 14, 2014

Weight Reduction Advice

Hello Everyone,

I'm become a sort of an ounce counter (still a cent counter) to drastically reduce my overall pack weight. However, I'm still at almost 35lbs before food. Food is usually MT House for dinner, peanut butter/honey sandwich for lunch, one snack bar a day, and sometimes one packet of oatmeal for breakfast.

Below is a list of everything that goes in my pack. I left out everything that goes on my body to include my bow, clothes, boots, binos/carrier, calls, windchecker, knife, tags, and face mask.

Any ideas on how to cut weight on a low budget?

Backpack 5lb 15oz
Waterbladder (100oz/full) 6lb 12oz
Nalgene (empty) 2.3oz
Water Filter 13.9oz
Tent 3lb 4oz
Sleeping Pad 1 lb 3oz
Sleeping Bag 3lb 9oz
Stove 4.2oz
Pot/spoon 8.4oz
Fuel 7.5oz
GPS 8oz
maps .5oz
compass 1.6oz
headlamp 2.8oz
Medical kit 3.88oz
Butt wipes 4.3oz
Toiletries 2oz
trash bag 1.7 oz
tripod 2lb 13oz
adapter plates 4.2oz
multi tool w/ case 9.8oz
Sun Glasses & case 1.6oz
Rain jacket 13.9oz
Rain Pants 12.1oz
watch 1oz
journal & pencil 4.4oz
beanie 2.12oz
Kill Kit 2lb 3.9oz
550 cord & Carabiner 5.3oz
Emergency Kit 13.9oz
Dry Sac 10.2oz
Down Vest 6.4 oz
Mid Layer Wool Top 12.1 oz
1 pair of socks 3.1oz

TOTAL WEIGHT 34lbs 13.1oz

Thanks,

Ben

muleman · Jul 14, 2014

Because you asked.

You could cut almost 2# on the pack with a Stone Glacier Sky 5100 and over 2# by going with a Hammock Gear Burrow 20 in wide.

Craig4791 · Jul 14, 2014

That's pretty damn good weight hard to cut too much more off of that. No spotter or tripod?

muleman · Jul 14, 2014

Craig4791 said:
That's pretty damn good weight hard to cut too much more off of that. No spotter or tripod?

Should have said ^^^ too. Spend more time in the field and save $$$ for sales to improve where your at.

Weekender · Jul 14, 2014

Only thing you can do is start upgrading. If you upgrade to your fullest your looking at max 8lbs and about $1500 less weight in your pocket.

Best money spent would upgrade you sleeping bag and lose 2lbs.

topher89 · Jul 14, 2014

Sleeping bag could lose a pound or so depending on what degree rating you are at. A Mont Bell 0 degree down bag weighs 2lb 14oz as a point of reference.

fillthefreezer · Jul 14, 2014

drysack is heavy. tents kinda heavy. whats in your kill kit, seems heavy. could leave gps. multitool. empty gatorade instead of nalgene.

if you could afford to change sleeping bags anoth 1-2lbs saved.

jljmonky · Jul 14, 2014

I would pull everything out of the Kill Kit and Emergency kit and see what is doubled up. Also, for a first aid kit I am down to drugs and duct tape, I should be able to improvise about everything else.

Ben · Jul 14, 2014

Hello All,

Thanks for the quick replies.

I have a tripod that weighs just over 2 pounds and is the first thing that I leave behind.

My current bag is a 15 degree Marmot Sawtooth. I have an old warm weather bag that I got from my step dad and has been sitting in a tote for 5+ years. I might bring it out this weekend with some wool bottoms to see how it does.

My dry sack is 10L Seal Line that I got in the Marines. I have it more for sentimental value but it is durable and air/water proof (designed to drag behind during long salt water swims) and doubles as my bear bag when in grizzly country.

Tent is a MSR Hubba Hubba. Plan on going floorless in a few years or just using the fly/pole set up this year to save 2lbs.

My nalgene is a 48oz roll up canteen that I used to transport water when camp is not near source.

GPS is brand new, so it would be hard to leave that. multitool is heavy and not necessary, but always goes in the pack in case of emergency.

Kill kit is: Allen Big Game bags (1lb 6oz), tags, 2 gallon bags, 1 30l trash bag, 5 zip ties, havalon knife/case/way too many blades, roll of marking tape, All in waterproof ditty bag

The pack is new but I am looking at others. I just like to have the ability to organize my gear in a lot of pockets so I always know where everything is. ex. head lamp there, stove/ fuel here, first aid there, water filter here as so on.

Thanks!

fillthefreezer · Jul 14, 2014

Ben said:
Hello All,

Thanks for the quick replies.

I have a tripod that weighs just over 2 pounds and is the first thing that I leave behind.

My current bag is a 15 degree Marmot Sawtooth. I have an old warm weather bag that I got from my step dad and has been sitting in a tote for 5+ years. I might bring it out this weekend with some wool bottoms to see how it does.

My dry sack is 10L Seal Line that I got in the Marines. I have it more for sentimental value but it is durable and air/water proof (designed to drag behind during long salt water swims) and doubles as my bear bag when in grizzly country.

Tent is a MSR Hubba Hubba. Plan on going floorless in a few years or just using the fly/pole set up this year to save 2lbs.

My nalgene is a 48oz roll up canteen that I used to transport water when camp is not near source.

GPS is brand new, so it would be hard to leave that. multitool is heavy and not necessary, but always goes in the pack in case of emergency.

Kill kit is: Allen Big Game bags (1lb 6oz), tags, 2 gallon bags, 1 30l trash bag, 5 zip ties, havalon knife/case/way too many blades, roll of marking tape, All in waterproof ditty bag

The pack is new but I am looking at others. I just like to have the ability to organize my gear in a lot of pockets so I always know where everything is. ex. head lamp there, stove/ fuel here, first aid there, water filter here as so on.

Thanks!

http://www.pristineventures.com/products/game-bags.html
these would save you 12 oz. i carry 4 havalon blades.

ndbwhunter · Jul 14, 2014

As others have stated, the sleeping bag and tent are a little heavy. Leave the tripod at home. Replace the water filter with a sawyer mini that weighs in around 2oz. Could also take half the water if there's a good source once you get to camp.

Ben · Jul 14, 2014

fillthefreezer said:
http://www.pristineventures.com/products/game-bags.html
these would save you 12 oz. i carry 4 havalon blades.

Thanks, I'm going to look into those.

I just leaned out kill kit to the game bags, 12 strips for 12 inch marking tape, Havalon knife with 4 blades (no case) 2 gallon zip lock bags (one ziplock bag is used as the stuff sack), and 2 sets of surgical gloves for a total weight of 1lb 10.5 oz. (down from 2lbs 3.9oz).

Justin Crossley · Jul 14, 2014

Ben,
Good advice so far from everyone. As you can already see, it will just cost money to get your pack weight down. I think you should just get out and do as many hikes as you can and see what "you" can cut out of that list. For instance, I don't ever take a multi-tool myself but some guys won't go without them. Everyone has different needs/wants out there.

When you are ready to upgrade, I would start with your tent, sleeping bag and water filter.

littlebuf · Jul 14, 2014

Craig4791 said:
That's pretty damn good weight hard to cut too much more off of that. No spotter or tripod?

i think you could do a lot better than 8# 1oz sleep system. thats what jumped out at me any way

tttoadman · Jul 14, 2014

I don't see a camera. We will never believe you were really there without proof.

I think it is pretty good list also. I see where somebody already picked up on "emergency" and "medical". You can likely find some redundancy there. Lose the carabiner off of the 550 cord. I am a cold sleeper who is not willing to go floorless. I am not too much better than you on the sleep system. I am looking at some opportunities such as wear hat and gloves and vest to sleep and cut bag weight and volume. Perhaps with that mindset, you could move down to that lighter bag with confidence. The more complete and accurate the list is(such as yours), the heavier they become. Some people don't get every little thing on the list. If this is truly an early archery hunt, you may be able to ditch the midweight wool top. If it cold, put on the vest or the raincoat or both. The raincoat holds the heat extremely well for very light weight. I will not be giving up the multi tool until I can prove that my clutzy ass can change a havalon blade in the dark without killing myself.

Ben · Jul 17, 2014

I picked up a Sawyer Mini kit (filter,straw, plunger, 16oz bladder) and two 64oz bladders for $30 off Amazon. My old set up up was a MSR filter and 48oz Nalgene Canteen that together weighed 26oz. The complete Sawyer set up weighs in at 5.58oz and I have the ability to carry 144oz of water. I did that math and with the Sawyer I can carry 3 times the amount of water at almost 1/5 the weight for 30 bucks.

Just might be the best $30 I’ve spent on backpacking.

I've also cut down and combined the medical/emergency kit and ordered some TAG bags.

When I'm all done I'll post the final weights.

Justin Crossley · Jul 17, 2014

Money well spent Ben! Whenever you can improve something and make it lighter, you're moving in the right direction.

_Nick_ · Jul 18, 2014

Ben said:
Hello Everyone,

I'm become a sort of an ounce counter (still a cent counter) to drastically reduce my overall pack weight. However, I'm still at almost 35lbs before food. Food is usually MT House for dinner, peanut butter/honey sandwich for lunch, one snack bar a day, and sometimes one packet of oatmeal for breakfast.

Below is a list of everything that goes in my pack. I left out everything that goes on my body to include my bow, clothes, boots, binos/carrier, calls, windchecker, knife, tags, and face mask.

Any ideas on how to cut weight on a low budget?

Backpack 5lb 15oz
heavy... can lose a pound with an exo/bikini kifaru... costs $$$
Waterbladder (100oz/full) 6lb 12oz
Nalgene (empty) 2.3oz
Use platypus bottles... very durable for me and an order of magnitude less weight
Water Filter 13.9oz
saw you upgraded this already... good.
Tent 3lb 4oz
quite heavy. if you want to save some money, try seeing if you're able to tarp it. that will cut weight and doesn't cost as much, but requires skill.
Sleeping Pad 1 lb 3oz
neo air xtherm, but again $$$
Sleeping Bag 3lb 9oz
Could easily lose around 2lbs here, assuming you don't currently have a -20 rated bag.
Stove 4.2oz
pretty good already
Pot/spoon 8.4oz
possibly on the heavy side... look for titaniam alternatives
Fuel 7.5oz
GPS 8oz
seems heavy to me? why not substitute a gps app on your phone? (assumping smartphone)
maps .5oz
or just ditch the gps if you're carrying maps... just learn the old map n compass and you'll be fine.
compass 1.6oz
headlamp 2.8oz
Medical kit 3.88oz
Butt wipes 4.3oz
Seems heavy... dehydrate and then rehydrate when needed? Or maybe there's something going on that we shouldn't get into on this one...
Toiletries 2oz
trash bag 1.7 oz
almost certainly not needed...
tripod 2lb 13oz
adapter plates 4.2oz
for what? that seems heavy to me...
multi tool w/ case 9.8oz
almost certainly not needed, just a light hunting knife (havalon)... learn to replace blades by hand. at bare minimum, drop the case of multitool.
Sun Glasses & case 1.6oz
switch to soft case and store in sleeping bag.
Rain jacket 13.9oz
Rain Pants 12.1oz
watch 1oz
journal & pencil 4.4oz
you don't need a whole pad of paper. get a golf pencil.
beanie 2.12oz
Kill Kit 2lb 3.9oz
as mentioned, this is too heavy... TAG bags will be a good investment.
550 cord & Carabiner 5.3oz
what's this for? hanging meat? Do you really need a whole quarter pound of 550 cord to hang some quarters?
Emergency Kit 13.9oz
what's in this. this is heavy. it seems you've already got everything you'd need for emergencies with the other stuff on the list...
Dry Sac 10.2oz
excessive. use a stuff sack made of cuben or something. unless you're going boating and you have a real risk of submerging things.
Down Vest 6.4 oz
Mid Layer Wool Top 12.1 oz
1 pair of socks 3.1oz

TOTAL WEIGHT 34lbs 13.1oz

Thanks,

Ben

As mentioned, there are lots of things you can get rid of or upgrade. Some of it can be done via gaining skills (cheap) which can allow you to leave stuff. Good luck!

Justin Crossley · Jul 18, 2014

Even though I really like my Xtherm, I wouldn't upgrade your pad right away. Your pad is only 3 oz heavier so you would be spending over $150.00 for small weight savings. With that said though, I have probably spent more at times to save less.

Ben · Jul 19, 2014

_Nick_ said:
As mentioned, there are lots of things you can get rid of or upgrade. Some of it can be done via gaining skills (cheap) which can allow you to leave stuff. Good luck!

Thanks for your thoughts…

Tent and sleeping bag are on the upgrade list. I have a MSR so but just bring the poles and rain fly I can save albs. I also have a old USMC bivy that I’ll have to bust out and weigh too. My next bag will be a Big Anges to save weight and because I already have one of their pads. I’ll also be shopping around for a Mountain Smith LT but need hiking poles first.

The backpack is just about brand new and so far I really like it so that will hopefully be around for years to come.

I’ll start looking into pots. Right now I have a GSI soloist pot and pocket rock stove. I am pretty happy with it but wish there was some kind of non sipping lid and smaller insulator as I don’t use it often enough.

But/baby wipes are staying.

The trash bag is my rain cover for my pack or what I plan on putting meat into a creek with to keep it cool.

The adapter plate goes between the tripod and bino adapter…. more on that later.

Multitool…. I’m looking at other light weight options but I would feel just about naked not having it in my pack

Carabiner: gone.

I’m looking for a dry bag sale so hopefully that issue will be fixed.

Weight Reduction Advise

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