Gear overview for skateboarding

The focus for my long distance skateboarding journeys is ‘lightweight’. Compared with loaded unsupported cycle touring, loaded unsupported touring by longboard is certainly more physically demanding. The lighter my gear, the less fatiguing the days will be, and the more energy I will have to enjoy the culture, people, and landscape that I am travelling through.

There are still some areas of this list where I could save up to 1,000g (1kg) such as rain gear. Switching to light rain gear could save me up to 700g. Switching to a lighter sleeping bag could save me an additional 200g. That’s equivalent to an extra 1 litre of water I could carry. Numbers like that really come into play when you are travelling in very dry or remote areas.

See the boards page for information on what decks I have used in the past.

Three-season Skateboarding Gear List

Core

Trailer or 45 litre Black Diamond Jackal backpack – 1420g
Light weight down sleeping bag – 1045g
Thermarest Prolite 3 self-inflating matress (small) – 350g
MSR Microzoid tent – 900g
Core total – 2695g

Tools and spares
Skateboard tools – 150g
Extra bearings, bushings, mounting hardware – 300g
Tools and spares total – 450g

Extra clothes
Quechua wateproof jacket – 600g
Cheap non-breathable waterproof rain pants – 300g
Montbell Ultra-lightweight down inner vest – 190g
Icebreaker merino wool zipup top – 577g
Icebreaker merino wool 260 weight thermal – 299g
Icebreaker merino wool 200 weight longjohns – 188g
Icebreaker merino wool balaclava – 45g
Light weight Powerstretch gloves – 45g
Cotton sunvisor (fits under my helmet) – 85g
Thick woollen socks – 100g
Extra clothes total – 2511g

Survival
First Aid Kit – 315g
LED healight – 78g
Pen – 10g
Lighter – 20g
Maps – 100g
Survival Blanket – 58g
Knee brace – 44g
Digital thermometer – 14g
Sunblock – 40g
Lipbalm – 10g
Survival total – 689g

Cooking
Beer can stove – 13g
Ceramic coated aluminium pot (1.5 litre) – 173g
Pot lid – 69g
Pot stuff sack – 20g
1.5 PET bottle – 30g
Titanium spork – 19g
Fuel (1l alcohol) – 864g
Wind shield – 44g
Cooking total – 1252g

Electronics
Canon Powershot G9 digital camera – 350g
0.42x Fisheye lens for G9 camera – 150g
Spare batteries for camera x2 – 100g
USB SD card reader – 20g
Holder for batteries – 20g
Ultrapod mini tripod – 50g
Road Warrior plug adapter – 43g
Fisheye lense – 40g
2Gb USB flash memory stick – 10g
Spare AAA batteries x12 – 150g
Garmin Gecko 201 handheld GPS – 100g
Electronic total – 615g

Miscellaneous
Stuff sack 5L x3 – 60g
Dental floss – 20g
Toothbrush and paste – 50g
Ear plugs and case – 5g
Documents and case – 300g
Microfibre towel – 80g
Miscellaneous total – 515g

Food (example)
Two days pasta – 500g
Four days polenta – 500g
Cheese – 200g
Tomato salsa – 250g
Tuna – 300g
1l water – 1000g
Food total – 2750g

Total pack weight – 12177g (12kg)

In addition to those items listed above, I typically wear a 200 weight merino wool top, polyester trousers, thin socks, and BBC Icecream Skate shoes. The Icecreams do not give me blisters, so I stick with them religiously.

Notable changes from the cycling gear list:

• I am now cooking my food on an adaptation from Scott’s Pepsi-can Stove . This great little stove runs on alcohol, and will boil 1 litre of water in about 10 minutes.