This probably isn't what you want to hear but in order to lighten the load I would suggest simply getting rid of all the "Ya know, it'd be nice ta have..." stuff and sticking with the essentials. My BOB is designed to sustain myself, my wife and my one year old son. It weighs 8.5# without water and it still contains a bunch of stuff we could do without. With fresh water weighing about 8.35# per gallon you can easily do the math to see how I weigh in carrying various amounts of water with the BOB.