throw it in the water

This is another planned exercise...the lake is about 50 feet away, so I don't have to go too far. I was just telling my son about his final "test"...making him swim across the lake with his pack and getting out and setting up camp for an over-nighter (my wife threatened my life, but I'll wait until we do a few more "training sessions":D).

Thanks for sharing Bushman! Excellent thread and a good practice for those serious about the outdoors. This gives you a good idea of what you need to protect for water-proofing. I'm torn on drain holes. They have their place, especially if you're hiking in/around a lot of water so you're not humping an extra 15-20 pounds of water weight. On the flip side, without decent drain holes, your pack could fill up and be impossible to get out of a lake or river.

Any other thoughts on having grommet drain holes or not?

ROCK6
 
or you could just do a good job of packing, IE vaccuum seal everything in resealable plastic bags... then not only will your gear be waterproof, but your pack will be useable as a flotation device and everything will be compressed into a much smaller vblume, giving you more pack space to play with. personal tools that I use on a regular basis that are on my body or in my pack I don't close up, but I do make sure I dry them all off and coat them with a little goo tube of mineral oil at the end of the day... then there's always the 10 dollar rain cover, which will keep your pack in general alot more dry...
 
ROCK6 said:
Any other thoughts on having grommet drain holes or not?
Click to expand...

One reason I like my old canvas packs is that they drain fairly quick, and dry quick.

But if you use dry bags or heavy bag liners, grommets in a nylon pack are good, because otherwise the inside will just hold the water. Yes, they let water in, but with a proper liner, that doesn't matter.
 
Let me start by saying I am a "pack-rat" par excellante..I hoard up all kinds of bags and bottles for no reason other than "I might want that for something"..So my pack is full of bags and bottles of sub-divided stuff and mostly stays dry even in the rain. I decided to see if it would float so I tossed it in the lake. It didnt really "float" per say but did reach a negative bouyancy after 3 minutes or so..holding a few feet under but neither sinking or floating up. When I'm boating (kayaking) I use an Oh Sh*t! line about 5 yards long so If I dump the pack is going with me.(losing the pack is very bad mojo!!lol!) I dont recommend trying to swim with a pack on...either get on top and use it as a float or tow it behind with a line. Drainage gromments are IMHO a good feature..you can either or use a HD trash bag as a liner or cover or subdivide into multiple bags (like me :)) I've always got HD contractors type bags anyway..you know trying to clean up the outdoors 1 bag of litter at a time!!
 
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