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How many of you use these when camping?  We are going to be really struggling for space in the car and trailer when we go away in August, and one of the big items is the towel bag - we have to take 2 each for 5 of us as a minimum, but they take up so much room!! 

I had considered buying microfibre towels, but they are expensive, and I could only afford to buy a couple at a time, so we will probably have a set by next summer, but wonder what you think about vacubags for this year?

Bought a cheapy one to try earlier this year. Was very impressed.

Used a 12V car vacume which probably took longer to suck all the air out but the end result was fantastic, a double quilt was only 2 inches thick! I believe that you could use an airbed pump too, if you have one that has a 'deflate' action, not tried ours yet.

Quote: Originally posted by Shirlandy on 07/7/2006

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I had considered buying microfibre towels, but they are expensive,

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Just bought pak of 3 from Matalan for 7 quid.  2 x junbo + 1 large.  Going to try em later with me Tesco air pump

Mike J

Think I will trundle off to Matalan and try those out....... not too expensive if they don't do the job

We've only got a small car (Punto) and we laid nearly all our towels on the back seat and the kids then sat on them. Worked great as they still has their seat belts on and we had more room (for more stuff!).

We soon ran out of room in the Punto and have resorted to looking at roof boxes

Quote: Originally posted by Sidick on 08/7/2006

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Quote: Originally posted by Shirlandy on 07/7/2006

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     The vacumn bags that we use are really good, came from Matalan, they were £7 for a single pack of three or £10 for two packets.Sizes Two at 29" x 51" and One 19" x 34" Love a bargain, but only when I needed it 

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Ours they were £7 per pack.  No multipurchase. 

Good to know they are good though.  As said get to try later

Mike J

hi all

you can get vacumm bags for us campers that do not need a vacumm or air pump they are called packmate. you put clothes,bedding etc in ,seal the front and then roll,flatten the bag ,there is a one way valve at the bottom of the bag that lets air out but not in.we have found them great ,i put 2 sleeping bags 2 pillows in jumbo bag and flatten down to about 6inches or less..with me,oh and 4 kids quite a lot to take as you can imagine.i will find link for them and post it here .ok

hi again all

found the packmate web site ,will put link below but have a google around.i think i bought mine off jml site,there are other places that sell them so have a look arond for the best price.we have found the lrg and jumbo bags great .the medium and small are ok for kids t shirts,underwear etc."TIP" keep one spare bag for dirty clothes traveling back home.they are seeled so dont stink the car out.hope you enjoy using them we have found them great for camping.also good for storing sleep bags etc in over the winter.

happy camping

from peter

http://www.packmate.co.uk/index.htm

hi all

found another link to show how they work

happy camping

from peter

http://www.essentials4travel.com/mall/productpage.cfm/e4t/pkm0001/34753/Pack-Mate%20Travel%20Packing%20Bags

We use them all the time.  Excellent things.  Some aren't as good as others as we've discovered. 

These http://www.betterware.co.uk/productdetails.aspx?pid=015986&language=en-GB have proved very good as the plastic they are made of is thicker and more flexible than some bags we've tried - which were a pain to pack as they had solid seals and punctured easily.  These Betterware ones don't have a zip seal either - some seals proved to be a pain. 

It takes a couple of goes to work out the best way to pack them and seal them, but once you've got that it's a doddle.  Two packs of these bags has been adequate for a family of four - we've used them for the past 4 or 5 years - and the space they save is amazing.

They can be rolled as illustrated (well almost - the woman is rolling that one the wrong way and has the air outlet at the wrong end!) or use a hoover (with the supplied netting bag over the nozzle) inserted in the air outlet.  As the air is being sucked out you can pat the package into shape and end up with a pretty flat, well-shaped 'brick'.

It would be handy if they also had the one-way valves on top as some other bags do. I've removed those valves from some rubbishy ones we bought from Argos (absolutely useless they were) and will use some plastic glue to stick them on the Betterware ones.  Then we'll have the option of rolling/sitting on them, using an air bed deflator, or a hoover with the easy-to-use one-way valves.

HTH.

Oozat