Stuff Sack Question

This may be a dumb question but what the hell. So after my last trip I seemed to have lost my sleeping bag stuff sack. Its a Marmot Sawtooth 15 degree down bag and looking around the internet I found out that the stuff sack volume was 11.6 liters.

Can I just buy any old stuff sack with approximately the same volume and put it in there?

Should I spend the money on one of those sea to summit dry sack compressions things?

Should I get one at least 12L or could I go smaller?

1. Yes.

2. No. In my experience the Granite Gear dry sacks are better.

3. I would buy a very slightly larger size, maybe 13 liters. I like to carry my camp clothes inside my sleeping bag stuff sack, too.

Yes, any old stuff sack will do.

For what it's worth, I don't even use a stuff sack. I just stuff it into the biggest stuff sack I have: my pack. Doing this means it fills every nook and cranny of the bottom of the pack, and makes packing other stuff easier. It also allows me to adjust the volume of the sleeping bag so the rest of the gear fills the pack better. (I stuff it more loosely as I eat up the food during a trip.)

Yes, get a bag that is a bit larger than the required volume. That way the down in the sleeping bag doesn't loose it's loft. I have made my own stuff sacks that work great!

Sorry, I meant to reply to the OP, not WildBackpacker.

I use a Sea-to-Summit Ultra-Sil dry bag for my sleeping bag, not to compress it (you don't want to do that) but to be absolutely sure it stays dry. I tested the dry bag (in the bathtub) to make sure it didn't leak and continue to test it every spring (some of these bags have been reported to leak in the past, but evidently Sea-to-Summit read those reviews and solved the problem).

If you instead use a pack liner to keep your pack contents dry, then just shove the sleeping bag into the bottom of the liner. Be sure to inspect the pack liner daily for holes. If you don't use either, then get either a pack liner or a dry bag. Stuff sacks and pack covers are NOT waterproof (stick one in the bathtub and you'll find out) and it is vitally important to keep that sleeping bag dry! Even the most experienced of us have been known to slip and fall when fording a creek!

You can save on pack weight by using as few stuff sacks as possible. The ones you do use should be the lightest weight you can find. Most commercial stuff sacks are heavy (coated nylon and a cord closure thick enough to hold a horse)! A number of the "cottage" manufacturers sell stuff sacks made of silnylon, spinnaker or even cuben fiber that also use a very thin cord and tiny cord locks to save weight. The few I use I've gotten from Joe Valesko's ZPacks. The silnylon stuffsacks made by Eureka and sold by Campmor are not quite as well-made, but are reasonably priced.

Yes, pretty much, or as people have mentioned, you can even go without.



I don't. but I'm one of the minority of the more experienced people here in that I will typically put my sleeping bag in a compression sack for the duration of a trip. I take it out and store it fluffed afterwards. My bags aren't really any worse for wear after many years but people will disagree with me.

I use a lightweight silnylon compression sack. this adds some
water resistance to the outside, and between that, a garbage bag and the pack itself I can usually count on staying nice and dry.

I don't put my bag in loose myself, due to the possibility of the occasional bit of water getting into my bag. But many people do this without a problem (you could always put it loose in a garbage bag)

You will see a lot of different styles of how to deal with that. choose one that works for you.

I'm guessing the reason for not putting a sleeping bag in a compression sack is because it reduces loft over time? If its compressed just a few hours a day for 3-4 days while on the trail then is stored fluffed, then how much damage am I doing to it?

I ended up buying one of each...a cheapo regular stuff sack and a dry-sil compression sack.

Depends who you talk to. People run the extreme from the bag being completely ruined the first time you smoosh it - to people like me who don't worry about it and just store them properly. (for me that's loosely piled into a large cotton bag
and hung up)

Me, I figure if a bag died from the first smoosh, it certainly would die the first time my butt rolled over on it - so I tend to not worry overly, but some people swear by babying them - make your own decision.

Kinda depends on the sleeping bag. A synthetic fill sleeping bag won't recover from squashing as easily as high-quality down!

I haven't noticed any difference in my sleeping bag (850 down) from its being squashed in my pack during the day, but I did notice a difference when I squashed it into my pack and then drove two days before the trip!

I think a lot of us are a bit paranoid because of the $$$ invested in that Western Mountaineering (or comparable) sleeping bag!

It also depends on the synthetic. A lot of cheaper (ie cheap and heavy) insulation can take a lot of stuffing. But this is usually because it doesn't really compress. These bags are generally not used for backpacking, so we don't generally talk about them.

am i crazy....but i'm pretty sure all bags are stored in their factories in stuff sacks, compressed or not, as well as the retail stores...i just got a new mountain hardware synthetic, and the thing came stuffed to the extreme!...so if the manufacture and retailers don't seem to care it can't be too drastic...depending on my trip i'll use the linen storage bag, and put my pillow and pad in the whole "sleep sack" longer trips i'm often forced to compress for packing up everything nice

Looking around at the local REI, I noticed that those sleeping bags that come with the large storage bags are stored in those bags, not the stuff sacks.

"Kinda depends on the sleeping bag. A synthetic fill sleeping bag won't recover from squashing as easily as high-quality down!"

I learned about this as soon as I started researching MYOG and lightweight options. I was surprised to hear about it because I have used compression stuff sacks on a few occasions and haven't noticed any problems yet.

I have a Eureka Silverlight 32 degree synthetic bag that I use in combination with a Sea to Summit stuff sack. The sack has compression straps and I have used them on a few occasions but haven't experienced any problems.

Is 2 lbs considered heavy for a synthetic bag? Does anyone know if the rating on this bag is accurate? Should I worry about compressing the bag? So far I have only used the bag on two weekend trips. I haven't used it on longer trips yet.

This is the long term we are talking about, not a few trips. A synthetic fill bag will gradually lose its ability to recover its original loft, thus limiting its useful life to 6-7 years vs. 15 or more years for down. Reference table. That's why so many of us have gritted our teeth and bought those expensive down bags that we are so paranoid about--in the long run, they're cheaper as well as lighter!

In other words, after a few years of being regularly compressed, that 32 degree synthetic bag (which, at 2 lbs., is probably actually not that warm) will gradually become a 45-50 degree bag.

Several things will prolong the life of any sleeping bag, regardless of insulation. One, as mentioned, is not compressing it too tightly in the pack for too long periods. A second is to fluff it up in the clothes dryer (very low heat) when you get home, which both dries and helps to reloft the insulation. The third is storing the bag very loosely in a large breathable storage sack or hanging in the closet (with no pressure from hanging clothes on either side, which assumes you have more closet space than most) or on the floor under the bed (loosely covered with a sheet to keep off dust bunnies).

Oh, and allowing the kids to use their sleeping bags at home and for sleepovers (especially those kids who still wet the bed on occasion so that their bags have to be washed frequently) is not a recipe for longevity of the sleeping bag! Of course this is why you shouldn't use expensive down bags for kids who still have occasional accidents!