Canoe with a View : : Canadian Open Canoe forum

eh up

i need a new rucksack because i just filled my 60L one
and i need something bigger for my winter camping gear,
anyone recommend a good rucksack?
and where i can get it,
prefer grade1 if poss to get the price down...
i was wondering about the army bergens? 100L or more...

Bin liners are big.............

Hi Keith,
think the vulcan bergan is a good one, 100litres or 120 litres with side pouches attached, Warthog (stu) will know more about them,

Andy.

Hi Keith, don't buy anything yet!

As for sizes of packs there are two schools of thought on this one.

Light weight, some people back pack with 45ltr or so sacks on multi day hikes like the TGO Challenge. Kit info on this podcast.
Ok some of these guys/gals are fanatical and cuthandles off their toothbrushes etc, but worth looking at to reduce the size of kit and still be comfortable.

Or there is the heavy weight brigade (me 15-20 years ago).
In them days I had a Berghous 65 Ltr (+15) where I stuffed all manner of goodies in and on. 2 sleeping bags etc.


I would think long and hard before buying a new sack as the on you have may well do.

To summarise.

Small, light and fast.

Heavy, large and slow with the added risk of injury.

Happy back packing.

Cheers
Tim

Hi Keith, what Tim has said is good sense, but if you purchase the large Bergen with side pouches which detach and in fact make a day pack as each pouch is 20ltre, all this coupled with a belt kit consisting of poncho roll, kidney pouches, you can comfortable carry 160 ltrs of kit if you so wish, the Tip for load carrying is to get Bergen as high up your back as possible.
Try this link for kit :-
http://www.the-outdoor.co.uk/ishop/853/shopscr70.html



Belt kit notice poncho Roll x2 one carried Hammock.



Full PLCE Bergen, Roll mat on top.





A lot depends on what you require, just the same as Canoe Camping, pics of me only 10 years ago,
Good luck anyway mate, you know what you want, just go for it, just keep putting one foot in front of the other, and when the pain starts just ignore, Mind over matter I dont Mind and you dont matter,
Best Regards Bill

Sorry Bill can't see anything

Andy.

That camo's good, I had a jacket the once, hung it up now can't find it!!!!!

Food for thought this thread,

Cheers
Tim

(04-02-10 10:29 PM)BB. Wrote: [ -> ]eh up

i need a new rucksack because i just filled my 60L one
and i need something bigger for my winter camping gear,
anyone recommend a good rucksack?
and where i can get it,
prefer grade1 if poss to get the price down...
i was wondering about the army bergens? 100L or more...

Hi Keith

I'm with Tim on this one, before you buy a new rucksack have a look at all the gear that you are taking with you.

Think about each piece of equipment and decide wether you really need to take it with you. What I do is pack everything I think that I might need, then empty the rucksack and see what bits of kit I can get rid of, it always works for me.

In my experience if you cannot get in in a 60L rucksack then you don't need it, or you need to upgrade various parts of your kit.

I have been on plenty of walking and climbing trips in the winter and found that I could get all the camping gear and climbing gear into my trusty old 60L rucksack.

Hope this helps.

Terry

Food and drinks aside, so long as you are warm and dry in the evening/night time you can almost cope with everything, with this in mind have a ganders at your kit see if some can have multiple uses ie down jacket to uprate your sleeping bag and uber warm socks for toastie feet, I say if your feet are cold you are not comfey.
As Terry say's hope this helps,
Try PM ing Mountandaze methinks he is up to date with cold weather kit etc.

Cheers
Tim

(05-02-10 09:43 AM)Tim Wrote: [ -> ]and uber warm socks for toastie feet, I say if your feet are cold you are not comfey.

Tim

If your feet are cold, you`ve still got your socks on. Despite drying my feet and wearing dry warm socks when jumping into my bag last weekend, my feet started to get cold. Thing is, I know not to wear socks in my bag `cos they hold moisture from your feet, but I still wore them because it was down to -4c last friday night. Soon took them off. Saturday night was down to -5c, toasty feet all night, how? Didn`t wear socks when jumping in the bag. Wore a thermal skull cap tho`. If your head`s warm, your body`s warm.

A wise old backpacking friend once told me "If you need more than a 60ltr rucksack, then you're taking too much".

How old is your "60L" rucksack? What make and model? What sort of shape (tall, thin, short, fat?)?

"60L" isn't necessarily "60L" and "60L" in 1970 isn't "60L" these days.

its a Karrimor rucksack
its about 28 years old and still in good condition...
tou can see it here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIjdvzhyzV8

(14-02-10 10:08 PM)BB. Wrote: [ -> ]its a Karrimor rucksack
its about 28 years old and still in good condition...
tou can see it here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIjdvzhyzV8

Yep. It looks a quite proper 60L I think but that's a bit off topic I suppose.

I use an army bergen. Some people moan about the back system being archaic but I don't mind it at all. They're tough, cheap and come in the right sort of colour. You can add side pouches to some, which are about double the size of the side pouches on your bag in the video.