Silnylon stuff sacks for packing your gear

[Americanperegrino]

This has probably been posted before, but.
I use a system of silnylon stuff sacks to hold my clothes/etc when I back pack. Silnylon is an extremely lite weight and tuff nylon that is treated with silicon making it virtually waterproof. I use various sizes/colors to hold everything that goes inside my pack. I use one bag for clean clothes, one for dirty clothes, one for my jacket, one for my toiletries, one for electronics, one for first aid, etc. Nothing goes into my pack that isnt in a stuff sack.

So, what do these stuff sacks do for me? First; they organize my pack. I'm a guy, which is to say that I'm a mess when it comes to clothes, packing, organization, and most other things. No more mixing of dirty smelly clothes with clean clothes. No mixing of damp clothes with dry clothes. No more dropping my nice dry clean underwear on the shower floor because I was trying to balance them on the little nail inside the shower. Second; Now I have a shower bag..actually three. When I go to the shower I carry 1 bag with clean clothes, 1 bag to stuff my dirty clothes into(treated inside and out with permithrin), and my toiletries in my third bag. All these can be hung inside the shower if I need to.

This system also keeps everything inside my pack dry in the rain. When I load my pack, I always point the opening of the sylnylon bag down. Any water that gets past my packs rain cover and makes it into the pack now has to get past the sylnylon sack. I've been in extremely heavy rain and have never had anything in the sylnylon sack get wet.

The sylnylon sack works great as a wash basin for clothes. After all its a waterproof bag. I have used mine as a wash basin for clothes and me.
http://www.rei.com/product/781500/sea-to-summit-ultra-sil-stuff-sack

 

[Al the optimist]

I use dry bags. The tops fold over to create a waterproof seal.

 

[Americanperegrino]

I use dry bags when I ride my motorcycle and they work great. But, they are really heavy. Do you have lite weight dry bags?

 

[C clearly]

I, too, love my silnylon stuff sacks and am happy to carry a few extra grams so that I can know exactly where everything is. I use ones with the foldover top so they can be sealed if I want. (Then I point the opening up so it is easier to get the air out and compress the bag!) They also make the decontamination process much easier in case of the dreaded you-know-whats. I haven't used them as wash basins, but the idea is great. Once I was in an albergue with no wash basin available to soak my blistered foot. I could have used one of those bags!

 

[Bajaracer]

Snugpak.
http://www.snugpak.com/outdoor/dri-sak

 

[Bajaracer]

I trust the simple roll top sealing of my Snugpak dri-saks over drawstring closure or any zip-loc type bag which closure wears out with repeated openings.