sleeping bag

[sykgutt]

this is going to sound dumb, but i don't know how to carry my sleeping bag around. it won't fit in my pack. how do i attach it?

 

[Labea]

cut off the seat belt straps from shopping carts. you'll only need two sets. sew them to your backpack, wherever works. you should sew it on top. use floss.

 

[shaneth]

or you could use old bike inner tubes so that the straps would be stretchy and it'll hold your bag nicely. just sew the buckles from those shopping cart straps to the ends of the inner tube and sew them to your pack.

 

[macks]

oh the many uses of bike innertubes. you know you can make handlebar grip outta them too? just use duct tape to start it and end it and wrap it tight like normal handlebar tape. I saw a kid do it in olympia in that bike shop in the back of dumpster values and tried it myself, works great. i guess it can turn your hands black though.. anyway. anyone use those REI compression sleeping bag holders? (the ones with straps not the air compressor ones)
my bag is in too small of a holder and i'm afraid it's going to rip.

 

[shaneth]

yeah, I love bike inner tubes. you can usually find a ton in bike shop dumpsters. I recently saw an instructable about a bunch of things you can do with old inner tubes. I like using them as a liner between your tire and tube to help prevent flats from road debris.

 

[macks]

do you have to glue it to your tire or anything? seems like the tube on tube action might rub the rubber too much and create holes. jesus, that sentence was awesome.

 

[rideitlikeyoustoleit]

Having a compression sack is worth the money or effort to obtain. I have a compression sack that is way to big for my sleeping bag, so I can fit clothes and mostly everything else in it also and have all my things compacted to a tiny ball.

 

[finn]

do you have to glue it to your tire or anything? seems like the tube on tube action might rub the rubber too much and create holes. jesus, that sentence was awesome.

The gypsum powder in the inside of the old tube should allow shifting to take place so that the outside doesn't rub against the tire and newer tube. That's assuming that it hasn't gotten washed out. But it does make the tire heavier.

 

[Bendixontherails]

another thought on sleeping bags... does anyone know where to get neoprene by the yard? it is way warm, really thin, waterproof and pretty durable. I have been thinking about an exterior sleeping bag cover of it. thoughts?

 

[Mouse]

I always found some random twine or thin rope and figured a way to keep the sucker in place. it fell out sometimes when I was walking, really annoying. that's what you get for traveling with a lil bookbag and not a real pack.

 

[sykgutt]

yeah, i've only got a small school bookbag, 10 dollars from wal-mart. one of those. i ended up just tightly wrapping a bungee cord around it and putting one of my backpack straps through the bungee cord. seems to work ok, for the time being.

 

[RandomRaccoon]

another thought on sleeping bags... does anyone know where to get neoprene by the yard? it is way warm, really thin, waterproof and pretty durable. I have been thinking about an exterior sleeping bag cover of it. thoughts?

You could just sew a whole bunch of mouse pads together! THen you'd have alot of crazy pictures and shit...stealth minus?

 

[Immortal dirty Squirrel]

Yes.
Ruining the loft of your bed sucks.
Ecpecially down.
It's a vey good Idea to keep putting more and more into the bag.
Surely we all find dead birds...

 

[spoorprint]

another thought on sleeping bags... does anyone know where to get neoprene by the yard? it is way warm, really thin, waterproof and pretty durable. I have been thinking about an exterior sleeping bag cover of it. thoughts?

Just noticed this-don't you think you'll get wet? You sweat about a quart of water a night.

 

[eightstring]

i also use a compression sack to hold my sleeping bag to the outside of my vest. (one o' them load-bearing vests which i highly recommend) hadn't considered the effect on the loft, especially since my current sleeping bag is down. what i plan to do is get a small green tarp, sew one of those thick gray blankets from a unit onto it, fold it over and sew on a zipper from a thrift store sleeping bag. i'm gonna put a draw string on the opening, a velcro flap over the zipper and seal the seams with hot glue on the inside and hull putty or something on the outside. want it to be big enough to fit my dog and carry a garbage bag to put my other gear in. ive had enough wet nights to last me a while

 

[dVEC]

In order of specialization and compression power:

Round Turn and Two Half-Hitches

Constrictor Knot (See "Alternative Using the End" for this particular case)

Trucker's Hitch


Good cord can replace half the shit in your pack if you know the right knots. Plus, people die when people don't know knots. It's worth the time to learn 'em!

 

[veggieguy12]

I am wondering whether ruining the loft of my sleeping bag is going to later haunt me a cold night.

The bags these days are made to be compressed in transit - half the bags in any camping store come with a stuff sack / compression bag! You use the bag for warmth to sleep, then you pack it small and travel, then you open it up again when you can (for use or storage).
Don't keep it packed for weeks, but for moving it's fine.

In fact, I hear that a random stuff of the sleeping bag into its compression bag is better than a systematic roll, because oft-repeated bends and folds will put a kink in the fibers so that they don't insulate as well. Whatever.

(Widerstand doesn't know every thing.)

 

[kai]

i've never been big on compression sacks, i always just stuffed my bag into the bottom of my backpack and after carrying it around like that consistently for a couple years low and behold my loft is crushed, limp and not all that warm. The only way i feel anyone going for the long haul isn't gonna end up with a fucked up bag is by draping it over your shoulders constantly while you walk around.

 

[bikegeek666]

cut off the seat belt straps from shopping carts. you'll only need two sets. sew them to your backpack, wherever works. you should sew it on top. use floss.

this is what i would do.

 

[soymilkshakes]

I used to have my sleeping bag held on by one or two bungee cords, floppin' and unravelin' all over the damn place until some kid showed me how to bungee it up properly.. Pretty simple, just roll it up real tight, wrap a bungee cord around the left side of the rolled up bag and a bungee cord on the right (so they'll be parallel, not too close together but obviously not so far apart that they're slipping off the sleeping bag), then loop a shorter bungee horizontally through the parallel cords, make an X with the short one and hook it onto whatever you can on your pack.
If you have another place to put a bungee cord you can make the bag a lot more secure. Example: mine has a pocket with two vertical buckles, I slide a short bungee horizontally through there, make another X and hook it on to the parallel bungee cords.
Hopefully that makes sense, hard to explain those kinda things over the internet.