REI Flash 18 Water Bladder Holder MYOG

For my REI Flash 18 daypack, the water bladder pocket does not have a holder for a bladder at the top of the pack.  Usually my Platypus 2 litre bladder works just fine, but last week the top somehow folded over, cutting off my water supply before it was empty.  When I opened the pack to see what the problem was I was surprised to find the water bladder had folded over, until I noticed how empty the bag was.  For ultralight day hiking and bicycling I will usually carry a nearly-empty pack, the water being the most important item in the pack.

REI Flash 18 daypack and parts

While shopping recently, there was a clothing hook (for socks?) laying on the floor as trash.  I picked it up and pocketed it, thinking of what I could use it for.  Well, here it is!

Poking the hole

I poked a hole into the center of a seam along the inside pack top using a hammer and a small screwdriver with a sharp point. This seam made it possible to poke a hole through while staying totally inside of the pack.  Then I threaded a small zip tie with the clothing hook through the hole and cut off the excess of the zip tie with wire cutters.  The blue foam is a piece cut from my old sleeping pad, to give the pack support and shape, and to pad my back from whatever I may be carrying.

Attaching the hook with a zip tie

When installing the Platypus, it was easy to loop the hook through the white clamp top of the bladder.  It held the top of the bladder without an issue and was small enough to not be in the way when loading the pack with anything else.  Once the pack is placed on my back, it straightens out the bladder and holds it upright, preventing it from folding over.  And it doesn't weigh anything on my scale.

A simple MYOG, a simple fix, my water problems are solved!

Tent Footprint Surprise

I don't quite remember how I got a footprint for my Alps Mountaineering Mystique 1.5 tent, but I have one and have used it in the past.  With the plan to further reduce weight, I decided to make my own footprint out of some 3.5 mil plastic that I have on hand for painting and home projects.  I expected to save a few ounces using the plastic.  The Mystique nylon footprint weighs 6.7 ounces including the stuff sack.

Mystique nylon footprint with ties with the used plastic sheet below.

I laid out the Mystique footprint on top of the plastic sheet, held it in place with scraps of used blue painter tape, and cut the matching plastic footprint out with scissors.  A razor blade would have been the better tool to cut with, but I wanted to not cut the carpet (very bad) or the footprint (just plain bad).  My five minutes of work, plus cleanup was over and done fairly quickly.  I folded both footprints up and weighed them.

Mystique footprint plus bag = 6.7 ounces.

Remember, the nylon Mystique footprint weighed 6.7 ounces or 190 grams with the stuff sack.  Well, I was surprised that the 3.5 mil cut-to-fit plastic footprint sheet in a gallon zip-lock bag weighed 5.4 ounces or 152 grams.  By making a new footprint from plastic, I had saved a whopping total of 1.3 ounces.  Or 38 grams.

3.5 mil plastic sheet, cut to fit plus zip-lock bag = 5.4 ounces.

Well, the plastic sheet was paid for over seven years ago and I only used a small part of it.  The sheet was already used 3 or 4 times, so it is really "recycling" the plastic.  And the 1.3 ounces saved is still 1.3 ounces.  I had expected to save over 3 ounces (about half of the weight), which is why I felt stupid, as in stupid light.  I still have the nylon footprint, and will sell that along with the Mystique tent in the future.  In using the plastic footprint on a campout, it worked just fine.
I guess using this plastic footprint instead of the nylon one will make up for the weight of some of the health kit items that I have not yet repackaged.  And I still have the 4.27 pound Mystique tent, hoping to change that to a 1.5 or 2 pound tent at the next retail opportunity.  Otherwise, my packed Kumo backpack is ultra-lightweight.
I'll work on the packing list for an upcoming weekend camping trip so we can see just how "ultra-lightweight" I have become.
I think you'll see that I have been reducing the backpacking system parts weight by half or more while not getting "gram crazy".

Backpacking Repair/Backup Kit

Small And Lightweight Repair & Backup Kit

Over the past few months, I have put together a small and lightweight repair and backup kit for backpacking and hiking.  It contains the following:
4 safety pins (pinned to the inside bag label), 10 Micropur water purification tablets (purify 1 liter each), 45 feet of 2 mm reflective EZC2 line, a backup mini flashlight, lens cleaning cloths (for my glasses) and extra zip-lock mini bags.  In 2 more small zip-lock bags are a book of paper matches, and some dryer lint for fire starting.  There is also a traditional, lightweight, waterproof backpacker match case, a P-38 military-style folding can opener and 2 four-inch strips of double-sided Velcro.
The rest of the repair kit is kept inside of a small zip-lock bag.  It carries 4 three-inch mini zip ties, 3 plastic clothes pins, 2 feet of duct tape rolled onto a cut drinking straw, a one inch and a two inch square piece of Tenacious Tape (for tent leaks), 3 wire ties and 6 rubber bands.
I used plastic drinking straws cut to fit for both the small roll of duct tape and the sewing kit needle-holder, since it is so lightweight.  Rubber bands are a great lightweight option to hold several of my camping items rolled-up until I need them, so spares are necessary.  The Velcro strips are great for attaching items to the outside of my pack and for holding items together.   The mini flashlight is temporary - I plan to replace it with a smaller and lighter weight Princeton Tech Pulsar II LED flashlight down the road.

Kit Contents - Safety Pins And P-38 Are Inside The Bag.  The Sewing Kit Is On The Bottom, Lower Right.

The mini sewing kit contains two needles poked into a cut piece of drinking straw (so you won't get stuck).   The needles are sized to hold the 2 feet of dental floss for secure sewing wrapped around the drinking straw, plus 4-6 feet of gray thread kept inside the straw.  I put this small sewing kit into a super-mini zip-lock bag to keep the pieces organized.
All my backup parts are kept here: backup fire (2 backups for my mini Bic lighter); a backup mini flashlight for my headlamp; and Micropur tablets to backup my water filter for 2 days.  I do not carry a backup knife or stove.  It all fits into a plastic-coated Eagle Creek small zipper bag that was leftover from my traditional backpacking days.

In my mind, I have just about everything covered for a typical weekend backpacking trip, mostly just to fix something so I can get back home.  In case I need more, there is also first aid tape in my first aid kit, my shirt came with 2 spare buttons sewn in, and there is more dental floss in my health kit.  For a through-hike I'll need to carry more repair items like zipper parts and specific pack parts that my tools and parts cannot repair.  I carry this kit for day hikes also.  Be wary of the weight of commercially available repair kits, as most are not meant to be made for ultralight backpackers.
What is most important here isn't just what is in your kit...it is what is in your mind on how to use what is in your kit to get out of a jam.  If I can't fix it with what I have, I'll have to drag it home, or get rained on, or do without.  I can open a can of beans with my single-blade pocket knife, but for 4 grams more weight, I can open that can cleanly with my P-38 can opener.  4 grams is about the same weight as all the labels on my clothing, pack and quilt combined.  I can purify water for two full days if I have to, and I can strap or tie most anything onto my pack.  I have sewn torn pack straps back on, taped holes in my tent and lit fires with my third tier of waterproofed matches during a storm.  I have had those experiences, and with some ingenuity, I should be able to fix most anything else.
The individual weights of my repair kit are:
Eagle Creek small zipper bag with 4 safety pins       1.0 ounce    26 grams
2 Velcro double sided 4-inch strips                         0.1 ounce     4 grams
Mini flashlight                                                          0.5 ounce    12 grams
P-38 military-style folding can opener                      0.1 ounce      4 grams
10 Micropur water purification tablets                      0.3 ounces     8 grams
Waterproof matches in case                                     0.5 ounces   14 grams
Dryer Lint                                                                Less than 1 gram
45 feet of 2 mm reflective EZC2 line                        1.3 ounces    38 grams
Paper Matches                                                        0.1 ounces      2 grams
2 Lens Cloths                                                          Less than 1 gram
3 Clothes Pins                                                         0.4 ounces    12 grams
2 foot Duct Tape Roll                                              0.1 ounce     4 grams
Rest of Repair kit items in bag                                  0.3 ounces    8 grams
Sewing kit                                                                Less than 1 gram
Remaining zip-lock bags                                           Less than 1 gram
Total repair kit weight                                               5.2 ounces    148 grams
There's room to carry more items inside the bag, if needed, since my repair needs seem to vary over different trips.

Tent Stake Tool

It all started with an idea for a MYOG project...a tent stake tool.  For those times when the ground is just too hard to push the tent stakes in by hand.  For just 17 cents at Home Depot, I bought one half-inch PVC 'T' connector meant for a home irrigation system.  

I used my drill to make a small hole in the neck of the 'T' and tied a knotted cord through it to make the tool be twice as useful.  This tool weighs about 0.5 ounces or 16 grams with the cord attached.

The tool weighs just a little more than my blue aluminum tent stakes.  I have found blue to be the best color for not losing your tent stakes in the outdoors.  Forget about yellow, red or orange.  Try finding those stakes on the ground in the Appalachian mountains during the fall.  Blue just doesn't disappear as easily.  For those wondering about multi-use, these stakes are also good for cat hole digging.

The tool and stakes will travel in my backpack in this recycled Tyvek mailer. I have found rubber bands to be incredibly useful and very light weight for backpacking.

So, when pitching the tent while camping...

...I can use the tool to push the tent stakes into the hard ground...saving wear and tear on my hands...

...And in the multiple use department, I can also use the tool to pull the stakes out when taking the tent down...

My tent is an Alps Mountaineering Mystique 1.5, pitched here in my back yard for demonstrating how the MYOG tent stake tool works. 

The tent body weighs 24.5 ounces, the tarp 23.0 ounces, red poles 10.4 ounces, blue stakes 0.4 ounces each or 2.4 ounces for 6, or a total of  3.77 pounds using no stuff sacks.  Not quite ultralight, but lightweight enough for weekend camping trips.

It is spacious inside for one person with the convenience of  two vestibules and two entrances, and with the tarp on, it is very water proof in heavy rains and high winds.  The tent is also bug-free for us Floridians.  With the short end of the tent pitched into the wind for aerodynamics and the aluminum poles supporting the tent to prevent it from flexing in high winds, this is a very secure and stable, small tent.  Most nights camping, I have left the tarp doors open for ventilation and views.  It is also tall enough to sit up to dress or read in.

A tent stake tool like this one is an easy and simple MYOG project for anyone to make.  It has multiple uses and is lightweight and very inexpensive.  It took me longer to charge my drill battery than it did to actually drill the hole and tie the cord.  It is really good for places like stone-free Florida and for those hard forest floors, wherever you may find them.  

By the way, this is the second week of February, winter storms are hammering the north and we have a temperature in central Florida of 82 degrees today.  What's up with that?