Thanks everyone for your comments, especially OregonMouse and Glenn who desribed some great techniques and alternatives. I especially appreciate the support from the "experienced" types who have been over hill and down dale for more decades.

Glenn, I've gone through a similar change as you did and dropped my weight to 24-29lbs depending on food and water carried. So I've done some of the work, sewed my own pack and tarptent and such. My pack didn't haul as well as I hoped but I am still using the 44" height double tarptent with sewn in floor I sewed 5 years ago.

My current big 4 are:

Mountainsmith Ghost 41oz
Exped DownMat 29oz
Hydrogen Long 24oz
Double Tarptent 32oz

Total 7lbs 14oz

Pretty difficult to lower those weights with my 42" chest and 180lbs (even after slimming down from a thruhhike the best I got to was 175lbs). I might be able to get to 7lbs with extra $$$ and I will check out other pad and pack options such as the POE Eather 6 and Starlite.

I do agree that going through all the other gear and really considering everything carefully is the way to go. I have to slim my first aid kit, my other extras, and perhaps drop a few things. I"ve already got a pretty good stove, the Coleman F1, but I could drop a pot and simplify a few other things too. Got the water thing down to a few 1l jugs and a 4l cantene that weighs 4oz that I use with Pristine.

I will take a truncated gear list on a few training hikes to see how it shakes down this spring. I'll report back on the changes...and I usually annodate my updated gear list with "lessons learned" to look back upon.

Thanks again for all your suggestions and your positive attitude to change!