It’s highly likely that you have been at the grocery store and picked up a 32 count pack of bottled water. Well, that weighs 32 pounds (15 kilos). So with that in mind, could you carry three of those on your back very far? How about two of them? Our guys in uniform often carry a pack into the field that weighs in excess of 100 pounds. Those guys are super fit, young, and healthy. Are you?
That Was Then…
I know in my younger days before I broke my back, 100% for a fact that I could absolutely carry a good 80 pounds on my back literally forever, and never even notice it. I’m 50 now, and a few injuries I have had over the years have changed me.
I don’t think I could make but a few miles walking flat ground, much less traversing the woods, with a heavy pack like that. My old broken down body needs to keep it light. Like less than forty pounds light.
Learn From Experience
When I hunt, I carry a pack on my back with things I might need for my hunt and for in case I get stuck out in the woods for a couple days. That hunting pack weighs about 20-25 pounds. That pack is really close to what I would carry for a BOB except there would be more water, more food, and more ammo in it (a lot more ammo).
There would also be a blanket and maybe my sleeping bag tied to it, but they don’t weigh very much. The sleeping bag is just kind of bulky though. The pack itself is supposed to be water proof, I was out in the rain all day once on a land exploration for hunting and it did stay dry inside.
I have a really amazingly warm blanket that rolls up small that is for the pack, but I don’t think that it’s waterproof. It’s made from that synthetic fleece stuff they make from the 2 liter bottles so it might be waterproof.
I imagine I would just roll it up then tie it in a garbage bag before I strap it to the pack if I was concerned about it getting wet. The garbage bag could come in handy for other things as well, like collecting drinking water in an emergency. If you don’t hunt, take an overnight or weekend hiking/camping trip with your BOB and test it out.
This guy says the same thing I said, take the bag out and try it:
Hydration
Speaking of water, a hydration bladder that wears under your pack is a good way to carry water with the weight evenly distributed. This makes it easier to carry than a clunky canteen or bottle, although I still keep a stainless steel canteen. The canteen can double as a means to boil water to purify it. Your pack may have a water bladder pouch for it like mine, but I keep the machete and hatchet in there.
What’s’ It Weighs/Pounds = Pain
Actually, I was curious, and my pack is hanging on the doorknob of my bedroom with a lot of the items in it that would normally be in it. I weighed it with a fish scale and it weighs less than 12 pounds as it sits now. That leaves a lot of room for ammo.
The pack currently contains:
- A machete
- AK bayonet w/scabbard
- A hatchet (if you want to try to cut some weight here you might try one of the newer skeletonized hatchets)
- Sharpening stone (it’s good sized but only weighs a couple of ounces)
- A small first aid kit that includes band-aids, gauze bandages, crazy glue (glue is better than sutures, it’s quicker, less pain, and you get a lot more in the tube than carrying 50 sutures) various pills (aspirin, Benadryl, antibiotics), topical antibiotic ointment, alcohol and iodine wipes.
- Small binoculars (small, but powerful, keeps the weight down. I have a couple of bigger pairs too but those are not for the pack. I also have a small monocular that I carry in a different pouch or my jacket pocket. If I see something that I want a better look then I get out the binoculars because they are stronger)
- A night vision monocular with infrared
- A water filter personal hydration straw (this weighs about 2 ounces and will filter 300 gallons of water per filter cartridge, and it comes with 2 cartridges. This saves a lot of weight because you don’t have to carry as much water and the straw basically gives you 600 gallons on tap, as long as you can find some source of water)
- A couple of space blankets
- 3 magnesium fire starter sticks (I might lose one in the dark so I have three)
- Small pliers
- A multi-bit screwdriver (this keeps weight down because the bits store in the handle and this way I have like 12 different drivers in 1)
- A few broken shell extractors
- AR15 spare parts pack (because, you know, it’s an AR15)
- A pack of dental floss
- A length of about 100’ of masons line (that’s a nylon cord with about 150 pound tensile strength). I use this to tie off the intestines and throat of deer when I field dress them. It would also make excellent snare line.
- And there’s about 50-100 feet of paracord
Whenever you are packing your BOB just keep in mind what they say in the military, ounces make pounds, pounds make pain. Anything you can do to shave a few ounces off here and there will add up, especially if you do it a couple of dozen times. Even if it’s something as seemingly insignificant as cutting half the handle off of your toothbrush, anything you can do to cut weight will help.
There are other ways to practice oral hygiene too… You could skip the toothbrush altogether and just use a stick to scrape your teeth clean. You can also just use a little charcoal from the fire on your finger tip; scrub it around, rinse, then spit.
You can add a strip of cloth to your finger tip too. I actually use a stick on my teeth about 3 or 4 times a month, it’s just like getting them cleaned at the dentist. Of course I brush and floss twice a day as well.
This guy has a pretty good video on how to make a lightweight BOB: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Olael7Blb5E
And this other guy made some interesting points about common mistakes people make when they create their bug out bag:
Food
The last thing I can think of is when you pack food use only dehydrated foods. Don’t put heavy canned goods in there. I know it might be tempting to put that beef stew in there, but that weighs a lot. Use MRE style beef stew instead. Pack nuts and dehydrated fruits too.
Final Thoughts
So that’s about it. In order to lighten your load, consider light weight options for what you want to pack. If you want something that you can use plastic or aluminum rather than steel do that. The filter straw puts water on tap (as long as you can find a source) without having to carry a ton of water.
Another thing you can do is carry gear around your waist on a belt rig with suspenders. This distributes the weight over your body and takes the brunt of the load off of your back. Just like I always say, use your head, think about it.
Try various options and take test trips with your pack until you find the weight range that you are comfortable with and then adjust your load to that. You can also use a walking stick to help absorb some of the weight as you walk.
To really zero in on that ideal weight for your BOB I would suggest loading your bag as packed full as you can get it with all the gear you think you need. Put on that pack and start walking. When you get to the point that you feel that the bag is too heavy to walk back home, take the pack off and empty it.
Look at everything you have and decide what you can really live without. Take those items out of the pack, put it back on and start walking. If you start feeling fatigued then you know it’s still too heavy, so go back home, empty it and reevaluate the gear again.
Keep doing this until you find that sweet spot where you feel like you have enough gear in the pack, but you don’t feel like you are wearing a pack. As with anything else, experience and practice will get you there.
Eric Eichenberger is an avid outdoorsman, skilled marksman, and former certified range officer and instructor with nearly 40 years experience handling and repairing firearms.
A skilled craftsman with a strong love for working with his hands, Eric spent 20 years as a carpenter and custom woodworker in high end homes. As a gold and silversmith he has created hundreds of pieces of jewelry over the years using the lost wax casting method.
The grandson of humble country folk, he was raised with the “do it yourself” mentality and so is accustomed to coming up with unique solutions to problems utilizing materials at hand.
I’ve always enjoyed the outdoors and camping and just sleeping under the stars so I’ve learned to carry certain thing in the woods to survive with if one was to get lost or just get away so I’m looking forward to the thing I get to test.
I’ve down sized to a backpack to carry everything I need
I’ve always followed the 25% rule for pack contents. Never pack more than 25% of your body weight. A 200lb person hauls a maximum pack of 50lbs. This will allow you to cover more miles non-stop without pain. If you can do less than 25%, BONUS!