50' in the daypack, 4 - 50' rolls in the frame pack, over 1000' at home to use at anytime.
Color - Orange.

i don't have a BOB just gear in my PFD i case i get washed overboard and lose my canoe and packs.i expect that i would make a shelter from a foil blanket and branches.i found with some test lashings--i'm a "old scout" and i know how to make simple lashings--that the nylon line that block layers use is strong enought for a simple shelter.a 50 foot hank of this line takes up little space and no real weight.it's easy to cut,you could run it over a sharp rock if you needed too and it comes in bright colors. para cord is good stuff but it sort of got a name as a all purpose cord from it's military days and there is other stuff out there. the only thing i use para cord for is a clothes line...ok--i'm on a roll here...i would skip the para cord in a BOB and take mason's line and real rope,para cord is too "in between"--too heavy for lashing and too light for rescue work or heavy hauling and pulling...

Plus 1 on mil-spec paracord. Usually 45', sometimes 100'. It's too versatile and useful not to have.

I too carry quite a lot of 550 cord. I've got four lengths of 25 feet each and another roll that was probably 100 feet long until I started chopping bits off of it. No such thing as too much.

- Dave

I carry lots of it. *laughs* Then again, I carry a lot of cordage in general. "A rope that is light and is strong and is long" is the the Tolkien quote, IIRC. I can make, don't want to trust my life to cordage of my own making though. 25' lengths of p-cord with the bed roll, 50' and a couple of 12's in the ditch kit, and a 100' and a couple of smaller lengths in my main pack itself. If I have my old ALICE frame, that probably has another who knows how much whipped around it it and acting as ladder rungs across it's width. My EDC has a 30' length, and in my car I've got another 100' and a assorted smaller pieces. In my winter jacket, I always carry a pair of 6' ones, just for playing with when I'm bored. And I've got it in my boots, and black p-cord in my sneakers. More wrapped around each walking stick.

And that doesn't touch my tinder/don't care if it gets left behind jute, my specta fishline, 100# accessory cord, dental floss, webbing in various widths, and real rope I've got hanging around. Or the wire I have in every kit.

Yeah, I like my cordage.



Let me make that easy for you.

http://countycomm.com/550cord.htm all of it 550 cord (7 core lines)

http://vtarmynavy.com/paracord-100-foot.htm 550 and 450 (4 core lines) cord in many, many colors, and many lengths, and they even have the 1000 pound stuff

The later is where I get most of mine, but then again, he's half way between were I am and my folks, so I'm going within a mile of them once a month or so. Good crew, family owned and operated, I've tried to talk the owner into joining a few times.

I don't live in the US and by time I factor in dollar exchange, shipping fees, duty / brokerage fees, it is not worth the ROI...

I once (long before I ever knew of paracord) had about 10 feet of nylon string in my kit and it was enough to tie the two inner tubes together that I had decided on a whim I would float down a river on, and to have a drag handle, and also to make a new bootlace when one broke. I didn't need any other corgade to last me those few days;
But if I had planned to be using a tarp or something that requires it, I would have carried more. I hadn't packed it because I knew I'd use it, but it made the inner tubing possible, so I'm glad it was there.

Sometimes you don't know when you will need some string; and if its versatility is the number one reason why you carry it, carry some in your "what-if" kit, I suggest 50 feet of paracord...This amount does not include the amounts and lengths that you already can account for using specifically, and should be more than enough for any whimsy or ingenuity or bootlace mishap.

Only take more than a reasonable amount of "what-if" cordage if you anticipate actually using it. It makes no sense to waste valuable kit space carrying something that will never be of any use to you.

If you think you might need cordage longer than about 50 feet, you might want to ask yourself specifically why. You might actually need to sign up for a rappeling class. Never try to rappel with paracord.

Also, proficiency with cordage includes a multitute of knots for different purposes, and your proficiency with cordage should be able to clearly enable you to know how much of what kinds of cordage you might need for any specific purpose.

Paracord is never included in a kit for its intended purpose, so any more than 50 or 100 feet (expeditionary kits) in addition to how much you know you will use, is absolute nonsense.

I carry 100' cut into 2 50' segements. Like NigthHiker I use it for hanging bear bags; I also carry it for the express purpose of rigging a tarp should I need to spend the night while hiking. I found a poncho/tarp shelter combo I have been very happy with.

I carry cord of some type in my backpack all the time.
I have started to use type 3 para-cord for quite a few applications (tents, tarps, dummy-cords). For simple day trips I may only have 15-25' of type 3 cord, but for over night trips and wildland firefighting/SAR I usually keep 25-50' of type 1 cord in addition to the type 3 paracord or spectra cord in my PSK.

In my truck I have probably 500-1000' of type 1 paracord almost all the time. It seems that I can find uses for the stuff on an almost daily basis. Usually have a spool that I pull off of as needed in my truck... at a recent training event I used all but about 100' of a new spool for various applications (and handing out to under-prepared students).

If you are responding to my comment it is fine.
I was trying to explain how fast cord gets used up and how short a 100 foot length of cord really is.
If you look at the diameter of paracord or climber's utility cord you could never hold it. It would slice through your flesh long before you reach its safe load.

However your and Troglodyte's comments pointing out that it is not climbing rope are good.
I can see now that there might be people who misunderstood my explaining about breaking strength and using multiple strands by using my weight as an example.

I thought just maybe the 10 foot possible lowering might have been a clue, along with pointing out that 100 feet is only 10 pieces 10 feet long.
Edit
(or my weight as 400lbs)

I guess if there is any way to possibly misunderstand something there will be some people who succeed in misunderstanding it in just that way.