We have put a lot of money into our gear, even with prodeals we both have. We have made it a point to get quality gear that is lightweight and usable. One of the factors that effects the weight of items is the thickness of the materials used. This is especially true in tents and sleeping bags. Here is where the problem arises.
Dogs have these nifty things called nails. While we have been working on getting Lucky's nails ground down, as I had let the quicks get a little long, he still has nails. Even on the trail, where he is going to walk 20 miles a day, the nails will still be there. Additionally, we are considering having him in the tent with us, to help keep him from roaming at night and limit the need for him to be staked down. I really don't want him provoking anything or pestering any of our fellow hikers. That means we have to take a few steps to make sure that undue damage doesn't happen to our gear.
Tent Floor
I have purchased Tyvek (that plasticy stuff that goes on houses) to create a floor mat that will attach to the interior of the tent floor with a few spots of velcro. This use of Tyvek is more for the durability than any vapor barrier. It's just so we don't get holes in the bottom of the tent. That doesn't work out well.
Sleeping Bags
The other concern with nails are our sleeping bags. The fabric they use for sleeping bags is extremely light weight. Especially since we are carrying down sleeping bags, which would be rendered almost useless when there are holes, we want to take good care of them. Also, they are really expensive to replace. I'm making simple bivvy sacks that are multi use, so that we can have them attach top and bottom when we are camping together and use them separately if we split or if we cowboy camp. These aren't going to be completely water resistant, as I'm putting velcro around the edges all the way, but it will repel the nails and allow us to vent any moisture through it while we are sleeping.
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