How do I lighten my load

[Jcavenagh]

Don't forget about used gear here on the board and/or on sites like Gear Trade, ebay, etc. I have outfitted with a lot of used gear and haven't had any problems so far...

[Rolloff]

Where can one buy down?

Wilderness Logistics, for starters.

A few other vendors as well. You can also re-purpose that old down bag, jackets, quilt or pillows. Just make sure the feather count is low.

Nice thing about WL. They sell top quality new down, packaged in 1/2 or 1 oz bags. Makes it very easy to fill the individual baffles. Squeeze out a bag per baffle and move on. It is very easy to make a mess separating and weighing out that stuff.
Easy Peasy.

[HomeMadeHiker]

Where can one buy down?

Wildernesslogics, thru-hiker, and hammockgear are few that sell it by the oz.
I personally have harvested close to 100oz from Charter Vail and my luxe pillows I acquired from eBay for $2-$4oz but there is more labor involved. Marceoutlet has done me well in price and service. I have filled 1 DIY quilt set and 1 UQ.com set with pillow down having fair success.
I can also attest to the service and build quality of UQ.com. Dave is great to work with. My 20F M50 UQ weighs in at 13oz w/suspension and cost similar to most standard nylon quilts, couldn't be happier!

[Mumbles]

All Nobel suggestions. I will re-read them once I've done my part and dropped weight from the guy carrying the pack and stressing the hammock! I know my tarp is heavy though, so I'm browsing...

[Doctari]

Without saying "Get / don't get this item" Or "You don't need X or Y Or even A, B or C!"

You need to start with a mindset of recognizing Need verses Want!! You Need: food, water & shelter. You Want: MP3 Player, computer, book, etc. Clothing falls somewhere in between

To help with MY mindset, the first thing I do is remove all of the tags from whatever has a tag on it. Yes, I understand that a Tagectomy takes around 100 tags to reduce weight by 1 OZ, but like I said: Mindset!
I then lay out ALL of my gear, even what I wear AND my food* for the trip. It will be surprising how much you are carrying when it's spread all over the living room floor Hint: take the stuff packed separately out & look at that too (First aid, toiletries, seasonings, etc). I then divide it all into NEED, WANT & Maybe. Then divide Want & Maybe into priority 1 2 & 3, Priority 3 gets automatically removed from the pile. I then look at P2 & remove the stuff that is nearly a #3 the nearly P1 goes into that pile, and so I continue till all is a P1 or removed from my pack. Having a ACCURATE scale can help making those decisions.
My "Want" that I treat like a "Need" (should be a 3, is treated like a 1) is my 2 flutes. My weight penalty for doing this; 18 Oz.
Take the core out of your TP & save nearly no weight, "Mindset" again.

NOW, about doing a tagectomy: If it has directions for care on it, be absolutely certain that you know what those care directions say / said!!!


*Some food packaging has extra plastic at the top to allow it to be hung from the display rack, it weighs nearly nothing, but I CAREFULLY cut it off, making sure that the package stays sealed. Yet another tagectomy.

[swoody126]

...
Your "Small Items" all seem pretty necessary other than the 30' of cheap Wal-mart cord. I would look into some Amsteel blue or Zing it. It might be a little more expensive, but both of those are miracle tools.

Good luck!... Finding ways to lighten your load is one of the best things about hammock camping!

a spool of ZING-IT & 50' of 7/64ths AMSTEEL-BLUE wont co$t too much & will aid you immensely, in your quest

the ZING-IT can replace all of your TIE OUTS, & TARP/FLY suspension components

add to that a few DUTCHWARE fasteners, TITANIUM STINGERS, TARP FLYZ, BINERS & HOOKS & you should, i said should, save not only weight but pack space

the AMSTEEL-BLUE turned into WHOOPIES save weight & space, also

DUTCH as well as SEVERAL OTHER VENDORS here on this forum sell all these components already made up, quite reasonably, if you don't want to have the fun of making your own

i have found creating items out of these products to be quite simple & very rewarding(lotsa instructional threads/videos can be found on this forum)

good luck w/ your quest

sw

[almaxey]

Great advice Doctari. But wait, TP is a "need"?

My question was actually about swapping out the heavy items in my hammock/net/tarp part of my kit, but I will definitely take your advice on the packing. I tend to panic pack, everything I see turns into a "I might need this" item and I take it. As I have gotten more experience I am comfortable leaving some things behind and take less and less on each trip. For TP, I steal that from work, they use this commercial stuff that comes rolled tight with no core, when the roll gets down to about 1 inch or so, I snag it. The sandpaper like texture reminds me of work and helps me appreciate the woods a little more.

[WV]

Why do you want to lighten your load? Do you feel pain carrying your present gear more than 5 miles? What prompted you to ask for advice?

Okay, that's 3 questions, but they're interconnected. You can save more weight by leaving things you don't need at home than by buying ultralight gear, but don't overdo it. If you need something, you need it. One thing you need is a comfortable pack, regardless of what it weighs. Same for footwear. Good luck.

[Teegs]

Doctari has some good advice. +100000 for an accurate scale.

Make a spreadsheet or use one of the various online programs that lets you enter your gear weight in.

I have a spread sheet of ALL of my gear weighed individually, and broken down into its components. EG: I have seperate slots for whoopie suspension weight and stock HH suspension weight.

The spreadsheet is also broken into sections like: Shelter, Clothing, Water Treatment, Survival Essentials, etc. Then I have different kits that I can make up. Basically I decide before a trip what I MIGHT want to bring, then I put all those items in a "kit". By doing this I can see what my base weight is for any given trip. I can also easily see what is weighing me down and what I might cut out of my pack.

Since I did this, I went from a 28lb base weight to just over 14lb, and I'm currently working to get it down to 10(ish) for the summer kit. Winter will be harder because I have to include gators, snowshoes, gloves, and other warmer clothing.

Careful though! Cutting weight, while beneficial to the joints and such can become an addictive hobby. Be prepared to scrutinize every. single. piece. of. gear. you. own.

[scryan]

In addition to the spread sheet, really the smartest way to upgrade is to look at the cost per ounce saved.

Basically when considering upgrades, look at what you want and get a weight. Make sure you account for any cords, steaks, poles, add ons, stuff sacks...You get the point, do your best (don't forget on the cost side too, shipping & tax)
Then weigh what you have. Put these both in the spread sheet. Then take the difference in weight and divide by the cost of the upgrade.
Sometimes it makes for some boring choices, but it will make the biggest strides possible, as quick as possible. Can also help you pick between two options for the same piece of gear. The cheaper option will cost less for the weight saved...

You can do this the other way too, taking the weight saved and dividing by cost. This will give you how much weight is saved for each dollar you spend. In this case higher numbers are better as you want to save as much weight per dollar spent as possible.

Whichever makes more sense to you, go with it... But its an important and often overlooked way to cut weight as efficiently as possible if your going to be purchasing.