You can seal the seams of the stuff sack with :
one part 100% silicone caulk
two parts mineral spirits/ paint thinner
Nothing else will stick to the silnylon material.

I still prefer the taller, contoured design of the Osprey/Advent vs. the Rucksack style bags that I carried for 20 years.
Those packs just stick right to your back, even at impossible upside down angles that I could never acomplish with my old rucksack.

Bee's terrain in Quebec City is pretty diverse. It has sheer cliffs above the river to the south, mixed hardwood/softwood on the plateau and Spruce forests in the mountains to the north. Those spruce trees are like iron wood, they just don't have any flex or give to them at all. You can't push thru them, you can't break them, crawling under the edge of the grove is the best option,using snowshoe rabbit trails.

I can understand his need for a pack with a premium on maneuverabilty over ease of access, but not black, Bee! <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />
(sorry, I've developed Black Fly Phobia, after my last Pitch-Black backpack) I'd rather look like a giant carrot, i think... but then there's rabbits to worry about. <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />