Balzaccom
I checked out your blog site. I especially enjoyed the pictures and paintings. I am a watercolor painter myself and do mostly mountains.
On your "things that didn't work:"
I tend to agree with pop bottles except a wider mouth bottle is nice to have sometimes. I have settled for a GaitorAid bottle with a slightly larger mouth than the liter Schwepps Tonic Bottle I had been using.
Regarding watch compass.... I recently started using my excellent phone compass .... but in case the batteries get weak, carry a light weight magnetic compass too.
Re: multitool. I have a few of those, but I don't carry them any longer because I have never never needed a multitool in 1000 hikes and climbs.
True, a bowie Knife is overkill. But I may need my knife for shaving wood for tinder, and for making sharp tent stakes from sticks, so I settled on a folding knife that was inexpensive and has a 3.5 inch blade and has worked well and stayed sharp. (2.0 ounces).