Light Weight Bacpack Idea

“I read a report online by a guy who uses a self-inflating mattress pad to line his backpack (a frameless go-lite). Apparently he uses a 3/4 length pad, forms it into a circle inside the pack and lets it partially self inflate. He claims that this acts to distribute the weight as if it were a frame pack. This is a step beyond using z-rests for the backpadding of a Bacpack. Has anyone tried anything like this, does it work?

On another front, has anyone tried the Go-Lite Speed Adventure Race Pack?

http://www.golite.com/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/scstore/scstore/product_categories/products/speed.html?E+scstore”

“I got the Kelty Flight this year. It's 1.6 oz stripped. One of the things I took out (thanks to MaryPhyls suggestion) is the padding around the stays. I put my thermarest against my back for padding, and that seems to work.”

“I have been doing that with my pad and internal frame pack for years. The is except for the inflating part. It seems to pack better than when rolled up. It also added to the rigidity of the pack and some padding to protect the pack contents.”

“Thanks for your notes SN & MG. Thanks for transmitting MaryPhyl's idea about the modified Flight.

This guys claim is that the tension and firmness caused by the partial inflation allows the pad to replace not only the padding, but to accomplish some of the weight transfer function of the frame.”

“im not sure id believe it ped... internals are engineered as a unit and removing pieces of the workings inside will affect them in unpredictable ways... maybe whats needed is an internal thats engineered to use a mattress as a part of its design?
pulling out a part that can be put back isnt to bad but id be very leery of making a permanent change to an expensive pack unless i was very sure of the results.

$.02”

“Dirty: Thanks for the input. I'm not sure if you are responding to M-P and MG's flight idea or the one I posted at first. I can certainly see your qualms about the Kelty-Flight modification.

The guy I first posted about didn't use an internal. He used a frameless go-lite bag. There are bags engineered to use Z-rests and similar pads as the Bacpack padding, but as far as I know there aren't any designed to use inflatables for rigidity and weight transfer. (I know I'm talking loosely, I've already had a long day)”

“I have recently switched over to a frameless pack for mid-length trips. I bet that the sleepy pad idea would really improve the way the pack rides (not that I am displeased as it is...)Thanks for the info ped!”

“It works. I've done it with frameless daypacks on a dayhike but I wasn't going far at all. I couldn't tell you about how it would be for a weekend of backpacking.”

“At the risk of sounding like the dumbest newbie ever, what is the difference between a go-lite bag and other backpacks?”

“In some sense we are all newbies
The go-lite is like 13 oz. No hipbelt or any extras. The pack really only works at no more than 20 lbs. Which is good if you are going for ultra-light”

“I took the aluminum frame pieces out of my internal frame pack. Then I put my Ridgerest pad inside the pack and stuffed everything inside the middle of the pad.

Works for me.”

“newgirl, Check out golite.com

My backpacking for the year is done. The high temps have been over 80 all week. Too warm and too many bugs for me.”

“The GVP G4 pack is engineered for the z-rest but I think they say you can use the 3/4 ultra-light ridge-rest folded and partially inflated. That is what I plan to do - the z-rest just doesn't cut it for me, but I like the G4 pack.”

“I've seen a guy use a Z-Rest before and he said it worked fine.”

“I have been using the Golite Breeze for the past 2 months and LOVE it! I use a 3/4 length ultralight thermorest and put it inside the pack as the frame. I carry 20# or less. I have converted all my gear to ultralight. I went on a 2 night backpacking trip with this pack a couple weeks ago starting the trip with 20# and ending the trip with 15#. I enjoyed the trip so much more with no heavy pack. All the other folks on the trip were hauling 40-55#. My husband has a Golite Gust that has a 30# load limit. We will never go back to the old fashioned way of backpacking because ultralight is so much more enjoyable. I highly recommend the Golite bags. I was sceptical at first but I am now a believer in ultralight backpacking.”