I hiked up to emerald lake in the Trinity Alps, CA over 4 days. Great views and saw some really awesome wildlife. The Kakwa is my first real ‘Ultralight’ pack and it weighed in at ~20lbs fully packed with food and water. I felt like it carried great, and was super comfortable for the whole trip. I have a few gripes with the pack though: the front pocket could be longer, and stretchier IMO, the right water bottle pocket didn’t securely hold my nalgene, and the pack isn’t seam sealed at all. It seems like a bummer to have a pack made out of waterproof material and have no seam sealing at all. I used a pack liner and all my down gear stayed dry through the rain but water definitely came through the seams. I’m thinking of trying to seam seal the pack myself but I’m not sure how to go about it. Does anyone have tips on products and application?
Check out this post https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/seam-sealing-a-backpack/ before you decide that you want to actually give it a try.
If you want to seal the seams check out https://www.trailspace.com/gear/seam-sealers/ or https://ripstopbytheroll.com/pages/search-results-page?q=ultra
Can’t remember what fabric the Kakwa uses so make sure you double check that whatever you use is compatible.
I use a trash compactor bag to keep dry items in. It’s simpler.
Try using smart water bottles or similar instead of Nalgene as they should fit better and weigh less.
Either way have fun out there.