I am the group leader for our trips, and bring all of the group gear. I take various kids, friends, family up with me. I have struggled with my group members over-packing personal items and have developed a new system where I give them a stuff sack to pack. This way they can bring anything they want, but are limited by the size.

I am looking to purchase a uniform set of stuff sacks, specifically for clothes, toiletries, and entertainment.

I am looking at the CSS zippered stuff sacks, but can't decide what size; although I think the Solo would be the best option.

Any other suggestions on size/options?

Thanks!

I would consider compression sacks over stuff sacks so the "bulk" can be compressed to as small of a size as possible. Here is an example of what I mean. There are several brands of compression sacks on the market. I have some from Granite Gear and they do the job just fine.

I have a bunch of these (10 actually) and they work great. I have various colors so I can color code if needed by person, by contents, or by what pack they go in. I went as far as to make tags for them - sleeping gear, outer clothing, clothing, electronics, rain gear, first aid, shelter, kitchen area, water filtration, general campsite, fishing, etc. It's nice opening a zipper and seeing the contents and getting to what you need vs. dumping a stuff sack out to find what you are looking for. These fit canoe packs well and you don't have bulges all over the outside of the pack making them hard to carry or to fit in the canoe.

My overnight paddling days are coming to an end. Shoot me a PM and I'll give you a good deal on 6 or so of them. They are in like new condition, I'll have to see what colors I have in each size.

I'm not so sure compression is needed for some of the smaller items for which these bags are designed. Sleeping bags, maybe. CCS stuff sacks filled with clothes, etc will compress fine when the main pack is cinched shut. Harder small items aren't going to benefit much from compression, but certainly are easier to find than rattling around individually.

Northwoodsman - I have been looking at these and see that Dan makes them in a few different sizes. He has the dimensions listed, but can you give an idea of how much you can fit inside each size sack, S M L? I have a set of the Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil stuff sacks, 2.5L, 4L, 6.5L. Love them but I think they are quite a bit smaller than the 3 sizes of CCS bags.

We use the Granite Gear Air Zip sacks to organize our clothes and then put them inside one of their eVent SIL compression dry sacks. That makes everything small, protected, and organized. Sorry but I can't remember the sizes. We've had them too long.

When we took a bunch of nephews on a trip, we told each two people that they got a pack for personal items, including sleeping bag and pad. Then the other packs were food or tents or gear. That is similar to your approach because it was limiting things by volume and making sure the group gear got carried.

Actually, with just my wife and me, that is how we do it. One pack for clothes and stuff that goes inside the tent and the other has the tent, tarp, kitchen gear, and food.

The CCS stuff sacks are really nice, but a bit heavier than the GG ones. I have a bunch for organizing my CCS rucksack and even use them for traveling.

What size CCS zippered stuffsack do you think would be most reasonable to use? Medium or Large?

andym: "...The CCS stuff sacks are really nice, but a bit heavier than the GG ones..."

Yeah, that's what I thought. The Ultra-Sil bags I've used are ~ 0.5 oz ea. But they use a draw cord rather than a zipper closure.

What I like about the zippered ones is that they sit with the zippers up. So, if any moisture gets into the tent (not that it should!), stuff will stay dry. You do need to leave the zippers open a bit when compressing in the dry bag so air can escape. That probably isn't an issue with the drawstrings.

I'll think about the CCS stuff sack sizes later tonight. I would tend to go large but then I think we tend to take more than many people and also take longer trips (10 days).

ryanstewart: "What size CCS zippered stuffsack do you think would be most reasonable to use? Medium or Large?"

The Large bags are huge. I tend to use the small & medium more often for gear storage/ food.

I'll get back to you on the sizes but they are decent sized. I can get all of my clothes for a week in a large. I'll try to measure and take pictures on Wednesday.

Northwoodsman: "I'll get back to you on the sizes but they are decent sized. I can get all of my clothes for a week in a large. I'll try to measure and take pictures on Wednesday."

Hey Northwoodsman - came across this thread - I'm actually looking for 3 or so of the large size CCS zippered stuff sacks for my son and my trip at the end of this month. If willing, I'd gladly buy some. I sent you an email.

I'd be in the market as well. I just picked up some Granite Gear ones, it is so nice to have all of the gear organized.

I stopped using stuff and compression sacks and went with a set of GG pack stuffers. Now discontinued but came in 3 sizes were a bit kidney shaped and fit my packs perfectly. 3 sizes 18/14/12 L very close in size to CCS Zippered sacks. 4 of these fit perfect in my GG Nimbus Trace 60, largest held sleeping setup and pillow, next clothes and PH gear, 3rd tent and associated gear. leaving room for a 4th to hold food/cook gear if backpacking, of camp comfort items on canoe trips. Food and cook gear were carried in a day-pack.
The CCS bags and GG zip-sacks both would be good substitutes for this style. The 4 stacked packs are easy to stuff, lay lengthwise across the pack (providing a comfortable pack shape), eliminate lumps of small individual stuff sacks, improve packing efficiency.
The CCS are 15 inches across the flat bottom and vary in width and height. A set of sizes will accommodate a tapered pack, all the same a straight sided pack.

butthead

Hey all - above I mentioned that I had a bunch of these that I would be willing to part with. Evidently ryanstewart wasn't the only person who had the same idea. I found a new home for all of mine. Sorry ryanstewart, I wasn't trying to steal your thread. I really do think these are a great way to organize and access your gear. My trip partners were always amazed when I would grab one, open a zipper and pull out what I needed as they pulled out the entire contents of their stuff sack and then struggle to get every thing back in a somewhat orderly fashion.