being a cheap b**tard myself I like the idea of super light / super cheap. I made a mesh fanny pack out of two toy biners and a mesh childs climbing harness sack. Total weight 1.8 oz, enough to carry a trail guide a 2+l Platy and some other odds and ends. Total cost, free...

Edited by debiant on 06/16/2009 09:02:11 MDT.

Just thought I'd wake up this topic a bit.

'tis the season to check out my inventory of handwear and it's more than well worn! So it's off to my favorite glove source (the grocery store):

These are fuzzy knit acrylic. Maybe not as warm as possum down but still very effective for 25F-35F @1.5oz and $2.99:


Not exactly PowerStretch although the exterior looks/feels kinda similar, interior kinda fleece like. Should work well when active down into the mid 20's (F again) ... I'll test that on trail the next three days. 1.2oz and $4.99:

Fleece gloves for the downtime when in camp. A whopping 2.0oz and the price has ballooned up to $5.99 but cold hands make time pass SO slowly:


Now the wind will slice through all those almost like they aren't there ... unless I cover them with MYOG wind shell mitts. These'll also be along on this weekend's hike. They are a prototype made with "beefy" 1.9oz ripstop. 0.9oz and cost almost nothing once you have the things needed to play the MYOG game. I'll likely replace these with mitts made using a pattern from Quest Outfitters:

Edited by jcolten on 10/15/2009 13:34:43 MDT.

This is what BPL/MYOG does to one's shopping habits. I don't go in to a store any longer w/o perusing the shelves for potential UL and Cheap projects. Went to the vacuum cleaner shop for a belt and noticed some baskets of goodies for a $1. So, here I am bumping elbows w/ little old ladies looking for bargains. Like those mitts, I might have enough sil left from my bivy to make a set....?

I noticed earlier in the thread that the price of driducks style ponchos were mentioned. I got one for $7 and some change at the local Academy a couple of months ago. I'll check the price the next time I'm in there to see what they are now.

I have a Frogg Toggs pullover. The "fuzz" coating has bunched up like fur or fuzz balls on a wool sweater only much larger. It catches and grabs onto twigs or leaves which is why I gave up using tyvek as a ground cover. Unless frogg toggs have a new smooth material, I would not use it as a ground cover.
For a ground cover I just use a piece of coated nylon just a tab wider than my sleeping bag, or the bottom of a homemade bivy which is silnylon.

Home Depot sells a painter's ground cloth that is easily as thick as Frogg Toggs and can be sewed. I use it when making test patterns. It is probably the heaviest ml, though I cannot remember the exact number.

Ran a marathon on Saturday. As always, I kept my thermal foil blanket. Turns out they gave me 2 stuck together. These things are magical for wrapping around cold shoulders and trapping heat. A couple of ideas:

1. Glue a couple velcro ties on for making a nice camp shawl
2. Double fold and tape edges for a groundcloth
3. Line bottom of bivy
4. Keep in first aid kit for emergency.
5. ......Any suggestions?

Hi Lucas,

Check out the BPL Forum "Philmont - Homemade Tents"
for some innovative construction ideas with foil heat blankets

Found at the same grocery store as the gloves ... pack towels, very absorbent, 10x14 inches (25.4cmx35.6cm), 0.67oz (19 grams), two for $4.99

Edited by jcolten on 03/30/2010 19:53:11 MDT.

Hello Bill, I don't know if you are still checking of this thread.

I have read several of your posts and seen your blog. What is this material your have found? I noticed other posts regarding this matter have been completely ignored. If there is a particular reason why you cannot, or are otherwise unwilling to, share this information please make it known so we can stop wondering.

My experience with the GG polycro sheets is that they are great as groundsheets, but very loud and crinkly for most other applications. They are also not very heat resistant; fire burns right through them ( :) ), and the heat from spectra cord rubbing on them is very damaging as well.

Are silnylon seconds inferior in performance. I have heard conflicting answers. Some say it is a cosmetic difference, while others suggest (including RJ) that the silicone impregnation is "uneven" in application. The cost difference can approach 50%.
-------I would wonder how there is such an abundance of seconds of this material, when I see no other material with 2nds offered; there are also few other materials utilizing silicone impregnation.

I've used silnylon 2nds - maybe 4 different tents, 100 nights of camping

I've never noticed any defects.

Maybe there were some cosmetic lines near the edge.

The coating could be uneven, but it's not that big a deal.

Maybe there's less misting with better quality silnylon.

This might not qualify as SUC, but at least Super-cheap - especially if it is impractical for one to sew (i.e. lacking machine and/or experience and/or time):

ChicoBag rePETe DayPack 20l
5.1 oz. on my scale (5.6 mfr spec.)
Fabric similar to SilNylon, but a PET based recycled!
Reinforced pack-cloth bottom
Daisy chains
Padded shoulder straps
$20 + 1.85 shipping +/-
Neutral colors (yeah for brown!)
1 year warranty
Inside zippered pocket (stows inside when turned inside out)
2 water bottle pockets on the side

Methinks this set of features for the weight and price to be tough to beat. It would be tough to sew something like this for less than $20 in materials, unless you had whole bunch of scrap laying around and miscellaneous hardware. You'd probably spend a mint on shipping for the various components, or on gas driving around finding them.

(click on photo to link to their website)

I was told (fwiiw) that very often the problem is that stray gloops of silicone get left behind on the fabric - dripped off the coating machine somehow. Lumps on the surface. Doesn't upset the performance.

Cheers