How do you pack your quilts?.

[518hang]

I have always used the stuff sacks provide with my top and bottom quilt then they both go into trash compactor bags. I have seen others just put directly into trash bag, use dry sacks and compression sacks. What are your thoughts/ ideas? Thank you

[OneClick]

Lots of discussion on this, but always a fun topic.

By putting two full stuff sacks in a big compactor bag, you're really not hurting anything since you can put some other items in there like clothing to fill the voids. Just adding an extra ounce or two.

I like to simply stuff my top quilt, under quilt, and down jacket in a pack liner - basically just a 45L roll top dry sack.

[SilvrSurfr]

I have a cuben fiber stuff sack that I put UQ and TQ in. Then I also have a trash compactor bag inside my pack. Better safe than sorry.

[dakotaross]

My pack is pretty water resistant. So I prefer to throw my quilts in the bottom of my pack - along with any other squishy stuff I won't need access to - and let my other gear go on top where the down fills in the space nicely, at least in the bottom half of the pack anyway. I like to keep my stuff sacks handy in case I need extra protection. Have not had an issue yet with this method and a pack cover.

Occasionally, when using a smaller pack, I will use a compression sack when I really need to pack it down. But I find I don't get that much pack space savings out of them, so I only use them when I need just a little more room, 'cause that's all I get with them compared to the other way.

[12trysomething]

I am a rammer and crammer. In goes the compactor bag, then everything I want dry after that. I find it keeps my pack a more consistent shape. I hope this helps.

- Rob

[pgibson]

I'm of the loose packed quilts crowd as well. I use a trash compactor bag as a liner then in go quilts, down jacket, down socks, down hat.... and anything else that I want to keep from getting wet. That all gets squished in and the bag folded over on itself, tucked in to the edge of the pack. On top of that goes things like hammock, tarp, cooking gear and food bag.

[walterharold]

I like to put the quilts inside of the trash compactor bags without using the stuff sacks. Not necessarily for the weight savings, but it does a better job conforming to the shape of the pack, and less shifting seems to take place while I'm walking.

[Shug]

I prefer mine in their own stuff sacks then into my plastic liner.
Shug

[JSH]

I have needed extra space during the winter because I'm taking extra clothes and using more insulation. I've used compression sacks for quilts to give me a little extra room within a trash compactor bag. Will probably back off on that with spring/summer loads.

You may wonder about affecting down by using stuff sacks, etc. I did. But I learned from advice on the forum it's unlike to degrade the guilts if these are stored that way just during the trip itself. Here's the thread I started last fall that'll give you some more info.

[OneClick]

I have needed extra space during the winter because I'm taking extra clothes and using more insulation. I've used compression sacks for quilts to give me a little extra room within a trash compactor bag. Will probably back off on that with spring/summer loads.

You may wonder about affecting down by using stuff sacks, etc. I did. But I learned from advice on the forum it's unlike to degrade the guilts if these are stored that way just during the trip itself. Here's the thread I started last fall that'll give you some more info.

I just thought of something. If you were worried about compressing the quilts too much in the winter, you could try to find or make some type of narrow/long sack to put clothes in. Then you could put that on the outside of the pack, maybe on the bottom using the straps (if your pack has those). I'm not a fan of anything on the outside of my pack, but it's just an idea to free up space inside for less-compressed quilts.

And I agree with stuffing and degrading of quilts. I think we're talking weeks and months of storage before it would be a problem.