Down is great but it does have to be babied around marine environments and damp shoreside camping. I think one can protect the down in dry bags but you must make certain the dry bag is the best available, i.e. the heaviest nylon possible, no vinyl that can easily develop pinholes. The trouble is the damp athmosphere associated with kayak camping. Unless it is a short duration, you are never going to get a chance to get the down dry from usage and the resultihg moisture from your body and the shore environment. You won't have much of chance to dry while underway the way you might while backpacking where in the middle of the day you might have some sun to dry the bag while having lunch. Why take a chance? Some of the synthetics have come down so much in compressability that the difference between them and down is slight and the weight difference also is not so bad. The big difference is in durability. 20 year old down and even older can keep going strong. The synthetics are good for somewhat less than that. ralph diaz -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024 Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com "Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Mon Jan 25 1999 - 13:26:13 PST
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