If you look at the pictures of both packs both are very similar in design.

I would get the pack liner as well.

You will probably be happy either way.

No, we skip lunch and do a bar. At home I rarely eat before the late afternoon, so no lunch is quite easy for me. Definitely run a deficit, which is easy to do for 5ish day trips. Always pretty exhausted when we get back, but also lighter!

We also dont travel every day. Tend to do 20ish km in and either basecamp or only move every other day.

Most trips are around 50-60km, so pretty short. Not that big a deal to run low. Hell, people run deficits for Ramadan or just intermittent fasting all the time. Especially when the final day is splurged with a 3000 calorie grease bucket meal on the way home, which is so so much better when you have spent a few days craving the crap out of it running a deficit!

While either bag will do the job, given your comments about your tripping style, the Ostrom Wabakimi pack is way overkill. At half the price the RBW pack will do the job.

As for your concern with weight, your ultra-lite backpacker approach does not seem to match your very moderate canoeing tripping style at all. In the end, whatever pack you get will spend most of the 10-km. day sitting in the canoe or at the campsite, not on your back.

The RBW sounds like a fine choice!

_________________
http://albinger.me/canoe-tripping/

I gotta say, I did not anticipate having to defend what I eat and how I pack when asking about peoples experiences with these bags. We usually go deep enough into the parks to get away from anyone else. As I said, our travel days are usually around 20km, and we have done up to 10 portages in a day and aim to hit at least one longer one to get further away from people. I dont see how UL gear has anything to do with the "style" of tripping you do. If I have to walk 500m total and can carry heavy gear or light gear, I will choose the light gear. Especially when light gear is almost universally higher quality in my experience. And as I said, we aren't UL. We buy UL gear where we can, so we can carry heavy in other places. If I can save a few pounds on a tent or a bag, I can carry a chair and some whisky. The lighter I go, the happer we both are. Im not about to tell my 5'4" partner to get stronger so that she comes on trips with me and can carry a 7lb tent when I can just get a lighter and better one.

Im sure the voyageurs who lugged cast iron stoves hundreds of kms a day would be disappointed in us all. Luckily we have moved past that

Ill try to either buy crappier gear or go in further to appease you I guess.

I recently purchased a Ostrom Wabakimi with frame. I am glad I spent the money and got this bag. If the bag has even half the reputation of the old bag made in Thunder Bay, I will be happy. So far I am happy with it and can't wait to try it out this weekend for a week long trip.

My old North 49 waterproof bag doesn't even compare to it. I recieved a new bag from "China" this week.

Do the Ostrom and RBW packs "wet out" in the rain? I don't really have experience with either, but one of the things that keeps me away from them and other packs like Frost River is that if I'm in the rain or sitting in the bottom of my canoe I don't really want a pack that ends up soaking up a couple extra lbs of water weight.

_________________
Have canoe, will travel.

Looks sweet!

Is it true to the weight on their site?

This has been a concern for us as well. Its another reason why the double weight of the Ostrom is concerning. My guess would be a pack that weighs twice as much made out of the same materials will likely absorb about twice as much water.

We usually bring a 3'x3' piece of plastic (almost like a painting tarp...its super tiny and light) to have a dry/clean spot to put stuff down when packing, and were thinking we may just use that as a pack cover for in the canoe.

Frameless packs are very common in the canoe portage pack world.

I have used Ostrom and Cooke Custom Sewing, as well as a few other no longer available packs. They all carry well.

If you want to save yet a bit more weight and spend more money then consider getting a pack made of dyneema, such as this paddling/packrafting pack....
https://www.hyperlitemountaingear.com/c ... 400-porter

_________________
Brian
http://www.JohnstonPursuits.ca

 

Yes, the weight was a touch under the weight specified on their site as per my baggage scale. I am not UL by any means but I wanted something that would last the next 40 years and I feel that I chose the right pack for that requirement.

… been using Ostrom packs for close to 20 years and have not noticed a difference in weight from”wetting out”.

_________________
morning sun, it's good for the soul

Ok, but the material they are made up of does soak up water?

_________________
Have canoe, will travel.

According to the Ostrom website, they are made with 1000 Denier nylon.

Nylon will absorb about 10% of its weight with water. Cotton will absorb about 25 times it’s weight with water.

https://home.howstuffworks.com/home-imp ... ion547.htm

Quite a difference.

That being said, unlike a PVC coated fabric, I am sure that there will be a small amount of water caught between the fibres of any uncoated fabric.

_________________
morning sun, it's good for the soul

Perfect, thanks. I can see why you would say there is no noticeable change in weight. I was half wondering if one used a DWR treatment or anything like that, but at only 10% it seems hardly worth it for a manufacturer I'm sure.

_________________
Have canoe, will travel.

[quote="gnatwest"]The RBW is based off the Ostrom design. Ostrom had retired and RBW basically licensed the design and got them manufactured offshore with some corners cut.

More recently Ostrom has come out of retirement and is having his original design manufactured again.


Hi everyone, Bill and Anne Ostrom here. With all due respect to this paddler, any similarity between the new RBW canoe packs and ours is coincidence. We did NOT license any of our pack designs to RBW. And we've not had any business or design collaboration since 2019.

Also, Bill never really hit retirement , and continued prototyping and designing for others and our own gear needs.