>>1033140I feel ya man.
I converted my 400g fill Rab sleeping bag into a top quilt. Saved the extra down and overstuffed my DIY underquilt.
Next DIY projects are to 'make' a knife using a blank blade stock. I love my Bark river, I love my Mora, I love my SAK, and I love my Spyderco, but I want my own knife. Up for having a go at sheath making also. Decided on a scandi rat tang and then birch bark stacked handle. Gonna be noice.
Next project for winter is a pack down hot tent stove. I've done the calculations and reckon it'd be a fun weekend project and I can end up with a reasonable 1.5kg stove out of steel stock. I don't have a hot tent at the moment tho, so I may try and pick up a cheap throwaway tent and retrofit a flue panel out of scrap canvas.
re hiking clothes and boots,
IMO you can't skimp on boots. I wear Salomon 4d , they're mid range goretex boots, and onto their third season with only a compromise in the gore lining on the toe bend (the rubber toecap let go)
I do think boots are overkill for most terrain and weights. I'll be trying trail runners next.
Clothes you can be a bit more flexible. For years I wore old Nike gym bottoms. Fully synthetic, zipped pockets, loose cut with vented sides. In the colder months I wear Condor bdu which are cheap but feature rich.
Synthetic base layers are good and cheap, okay they smell like shit unlike merino but they function fine.
Midlayers, personally I like two thin mid layers, a synthetic fleece over a wool layer. I wear a brit army windshirt and a US M1951 cold weather field shirt. Each were about 20 quid.
Then a shell. Again, the current gen goretex jackets designed to be worn with a smock are decent and you can pick them up for about 40 quid on ebay.
Of course, once all your bases are covered you can start transitioning and improving gear piece by piece. But by this point you'll have been inna a lot, used your gear, and know exactly what you do and do not need in your items.
