This morning I stripped all my gear from all my packs and weighed nearly every kit and every item I have which I could possibly put into a BOB/Ready Pack/Survival Kit/ETC. I haven't gotten into weighing clothing yet...but I plan to.

Why did I do this? My damn backpack weighs a ton! I don't have the money to just grab something and say, "Wow this feels heavy. I think I'll go buy another one of these only made from the latest ultralightium for only hundreds of dollars!". Also, I'm 30 years old and I'd like my knees to last another 30 as even through I drive I carry this stuff around a lot...not all of it all the time...but a lot of it a lot of the time. I'm hoping that by looking at what everything weighs, I can find the worst offenders and either modify the load, get rid of it, or *shudder* replace it with something else. And to think I usually shake my head when I read about ounce counting ultralighters.

Why am I posting about it? Well! I'm going to put all my findings and analysis into a Google documents spreadsheet and make it public so you can all benefit from my obsessive compulsiveness. It's going to be a living document (that is continually updated) which any of you fine people can reference for weights on things...or to use as a ballpark for similar items you'd like to buy but don't know the weight of.

What do I want in return?...just your love...er...I mean advice. The collective brain which is the ETS forum should be able to help me shed some pounds...from my pack that is...

I'll post the link later today once I've done all the data entry. Let the opinions begin! I normally get defensive with the 'you don't need that!' comments but this time I think I could use some of that. I think I can hear ironraven typing already!