Wiggy's does one for the military. Wiggy's vacuum sealed sleeping bag

But if you can do one that you already own, it would be nice.

Wiggy's has a multi-ton hydraulic press to ram those bags. I just have my VP215!

Okay, I was messing around with a WetFire tab. It appears that they seal them and then gas purge them; some inert gas, probably nitrogen, is pumped into the package before it's sealed. You can tell because the WetFire package is like a little "pillow", not a tighly packed "brick."

I sealed the unopened WetFire in a 2.5" x 10" pouch in my VP215 and the results were interesting. The resulting package was a very tight package with no "pillow." This indicates that either the gas in the original pouch is very compressible or, more likely, the original package is ruptured by a vacuum that strong. A third alternative explanation is that my WetFire had a hole in the package to begin with- it didn't seem quite as "pillowy" as I remember them normally being.

All I can do is open it and see if it will burn. If it came open in my sealer I can't imagine that would hurt anything since it was sealed back up in a very strong vacuum. Of course if it had a pinhole to begin with it's hard to say whether or not it was still good when I sealed it.

I'll try to remember to take a pic after work tomorrow, and in any event I'll take a pic before I open it.

I'd love to see a video review of the comparison! BTW, today I was out and about so I swung by ACE Hardware and bought two more boxes. My plan is to vacuum seal them in packs of one or two cubes. A couple days ago I purchased some of these bags from eBay. They look like they might work for sealing WetFire or Weber Cubes. I've got a couple of them in Orange added to the order. Maybe they'll suck but I like the inclusion zip-lock closure inside. They're fully vacuum sealed til you rip the top off, then you can still reseal it with the zipper to keep liquid water out. I'll test them out when they arrive and keep you all posted.

For those interested in my results with WetFire, I can definitively state that it ruptured after is was sealed and before atmosphere was let in. The new outer bag has the gas pillow. Squeezing it underwater reveals no bubbles from the new pack, so it's clear that the nitrogen is in the outer layer.

This is probably a good sign that the WetFire was viable.

Today I got some mylar bags that have a ziplock closure on them. They're 5" x 7", and the idea is that the rip notch is right under where you seal- you open the bag and can re-seal it with the ziplock. They seem to seal very well. They're 5 mil thick and seem very durable. And they're more flexible than the retort pouches. If they're durable enough I'll probably explore them further. A more flexible bag allows the package to be sealer smaller.

Lastly, I have a similar mylar bag on the way in a 3.75" x 4" size. These are available in black, red, orange, silver, gold, blue & green. If they work out they'll be perfect for 1 or 2 WetFires or Weber cubes.

Been too busy (read: lazy! ) to take any pics yet but when I get the chance it'll be a doozy!

Soon I'll be looking for a few volunteers to try out my packaging. It will be free to the recipients. The only payment I request is feedback to help me figure out how to best seal & package them.

Could let us know the source? Sounds like a useful product.

Pete

The bags seem to look tougher than the plastic one that I use.

I got these particular bags at Amazon.com. Not a great price there but I'm a Prime member so I got One Day Shipping for a few bucks. What can I say- I'm impatient! They're pretty good bags from what I can tell so far.

They're very tough, especially ones this thick. I don't know how much abuse they'll take but just handling them you can tell they're sturdy.

Phaedrus, it's Saturday morning movie time here and this week's selection made me think of your awesome new toy!

http://www.myfreewallpapers.net/starwars/pages/han-solo-carbonite.shtml.

(Hey, somebody had to point it out!)