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  1. #1
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    Default Your Dirt cheep ultralight equipment

    The cheapest piece of equipment I use hiking is the plastic clips that come with bread to keep the bag closed. They make very good clothes pins.

    What is your favorite "cheep" of free equipment ?

    thom

  2. #2
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    Bubble wrap mailers for insulating my Gatorade bottles when it's cold. I've doubled them up and they've worked well in sub-zero temps.

  3. #3
    Garlic
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    Single-edged razor blade knife. Cheap enough to throw away when carrying your bag on a plane.

    Not carrying a stove, but when I did my pepsi can stove was better than free--took stuff out of the waste stream.

    Same with reused one-liter soda bottles or Gatorade bottles--other people's trash.

    Bread bag vapor barriers for feet and hands.

    Homemade silnylon rain gear.
    "Throw a loaf of bread and a pound of tea in an old sack and jump over the back fence." John Muir on expedition planning

  4. #4

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    Plastic mesh onion bags. Perfect for wet gear drying on the back of the pack, as a stuff sack for separation of gear, and other such things.

  5. #5
    Hiker bigcranky's Avatar
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Traveler View Post
    Plastic mesh onion bags. Perfect for wet gear drying on the back of the pack, as a stuff sack for separation of gear, and other such things.
    Also good as a pot scrubbie, can be shaken dry and doesn't grow nasty stuff like a sponge can.
    Ken B
    'Big Cranky'
    Our Long Trail journal

  6. #6
    Registered User 4eyedbuzzard's Avatar
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    Condiment packs from fast food places
    "That's the thing about possum innards - they's just as good the second day." - Jed Clampett

  7. #7
    Registered User Ktaadn's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cheyou View Post
    The cheapest piece of equipment I use hiking is the plastic clips that come with bread to keep the bag closed. They make very good clothes pins.

    What is your favorite "cheep" of free equipment ?

    thom
    This is brilliant!

    I use Target bags as stuff sacks for my clothes, sleeping bag, and food.

  8. #8
    Wanna-be hiker trash
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    I carry A $.99 dish sponge, a small plastic "to go" cup and an ounce of dr bronners. I use this to take a quick wash each night and it has saved me a lot of money by keeping clean and reducing the urge to pull into town for an otherwise unneeded motel stop.
    Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.

  9. #9

    Default

    Umbrella bags for knee high crick crossin'

  10. #10

    Default

    My Smart Water bottles and alcohol stove...not very unusual though

  11. #11

    Default

    $1 lexan spoon from REI
    $4 piece of polycryo as groundsheet
    Prob 20 cent trash compactor bag
    $1.50 smart water bottles
    $10 Gerber ultralight lst
    $1 mini-bic
    Ziplocks for waterproofing stuff

    Ul gear need not be expensive


    Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

  12. #12
    Registered User Studlintsean's Avatar
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    Cut the bottom off of a 1 liter water bottle 4-5 years ago and have been using the same piece for my spring water dip cup.

  13. #13
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    Large rubber bands and small binder clips. Yes, I work in an office.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by bigcranky View Post
    Also good as a pot scrubbie, can be shaken dry and doesn't grow nasty stuff like a sponge can.
    Thread a line thru one for a rock bag, make it big enough for the bear line also.
    76 HawkMtn w/Rangers
    14 LHHT
    15 Girard/Quebec/LostTurkey/Saylor/Tuscarora/BlackForest
    16 Kennerdell/Cranberry-Otter/DollyS/WRim-NCT
    17 BearR
    18-19,22 AT NOBO 1562.2
    22 Hadrian's Wall
    23 Cotswold Way

  15. #15
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    Hair ties / pony tail holders for bottle carrier attached to shoulder strap.
    " Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt. "

  16. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by RangerZ View Post
    Thread a line thru one for a rock bag, make it big enough for the bear line also.
    Tossing a meah bag over a tree limb seems like a recipe for getting it hung up on branches. Have you had that happen?

    I sew my own UL stuff sacks from Tyvek 1443R. Its not quite dirt cheap, but its very cheap compared to buying a ZPacks cuben fiber sack or Sea To Summit Ultra-Sil sack in the same size. I have a larger one sewn using Tyvek Homewrap that I use for hanging food and trash on the bear-bag line. All of the Tyvek is scrap material from other projects, so it is essentially free.

  17. #17
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    My two hardened aluminum IMUSA mugs with handles cut off. The .75 quart weighs 2.4 oz and 1.25 quart weighs 3.1 oz. They cost $3-4 a piece. If I found a significant lighter weight titanium pot, I might change but still waiting.

  18. #18
    Registered User bonebroke's Avatar
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    08-24-2011
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    memphis, tn
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    Two balloons inside a stuff sack make a great pillow. It totally works!

  19. #19
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    The super ultralite version of this cheap hack: two balloons inside an onion mesh sack(commonly known as The Kardashian)

  20. #20
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    The spoon that comes with the starkist tuna snack pack. Foam cups that instant noodles come in, can go a week or more, with care.

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