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Posted by alan on September 15, 2006 at 1:02:49 pm EDT
In reply to Re: Synthetic Vs. Down posted by Bill S on September 14, 2006 at 6:09:31 pm EDT

Good point Bill. When I bought my down bag I also bought one of the sealed stuff sacks from Granite Gear, Outdoor Research also makes them. That should keep the bag dry while in my pack. I live in Minnesota and mainly camp in Minnesota, Wisconsin and northern Michigan. We rarely get heavy rains that last long, if it rains all day it is generally lighter.

Air your bag out every morning if possible. Also each morning squeeze out the warm, moist air out of the bag. Use a plastic ground cloth inside your tent. Stake out the tent fly everywhere possible to keep the fly from sagging against the tent body. Where the two pieces of fabric touch, water will condense on the inside of the tent, your bag will rub up against the wet spot and get damp on the outside. None of this is rocket science, but a little care goes a long way.

The only time I got a bag wet, thankfully synthetic at the time, was during an unplanned open air bivy at 9000' on Mt. Ranier on my NOLS course. Winds shredded, literally, our expedition dome tents, rain was blowing horizontally, and we had to just hunker down until dawn. A very long night. Interestingly enough, the only shelter to stay up all night was a low-tech megamid. Our instructors both said they had not seen a storm that bad outside of Denali. I guess I got my money's worth on that trip.

Replies

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• Re: Synthetic Vs. Down - Soloist 15:45:25 09/16/2006
  • Re: Synthetic Vs. Down - Tom D 16:37:33 09/16/2006
    • Re: Synthetic Vs. Down - Ian (Guest) 15:18:56 10/17/2006
      • Re: Synthetic Vs. Down - Bill S 17:31:20 10/17/2006
        • Re: Synthetic Vs. Down - SteveTheFolkie 14:19:18 11/13/2006

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