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Bear Can Backpack


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  • #1285938
    Ronald Rod
    Member

    @bespokegear

    Locale: Front Range

    Thought that I would post this up as it inspire someone else.

    I went out to do the JMT last year, and will be doing more hikes in bear country (Glacier, Lost Coast, Yosemite) again this year, so I built a pack specifically for the job of carrying a bear can. I was tired of digging around, and having to pack around the can, so instead I built the pack around the can.

    Weight comes in at 1 pound, 7.5 ounces. It has a corrugated plastic framesheet, and the pack carries like a champ. The can sits right in the arch of my lower back. It is nice to be able to stop at lunch, get food out without having to unpack anything.

    Thought I would share.

    Cheers

    one

    .Two

    .3

    #1842160
    Dave Heiss
    BPL Member

    @daveheiss

    Locale: Pacific Northwest

    Brilliant!

    #1842167
    Daryl and Daryl
    BPL Member

    @lyrad1

    Locale: Pacific Northwest, USA, Earth

    Nicely done plus it looks cool.

    I like the match up between back and can curvature.

    #1842171
    a b
    Member

    @ice-axe

    I really like your unique approach to the problem of carrying a bear canister. It looks like your design could also carry a Bear Vault 500 as easily as the Bearikade Expedition shown.
    We were all just having a brainstorming session about this very subject recently at GGGIV. Some ultralight packs wont fit a large enough bear canister inside to cover a 10 day hike such as the JMT.
    Your solution is very interesting.
    Nice Work!

    #1842184
    Corey Miller
    Member

    @coreyfmiller

    Locale: Eastern Canada

    This looks great, what canister is that though? Even if I wasn't in bear country I wouldn't mind carrying this just for the easy access to food. Looks big enough that I could fit my Ikea stove and pot inside.

    Edit-Disregard, noticed the logo on the can.

    #1842195
    Konrad .
    BPL Member

    @konrad1013

    whoa, looking great! Any way we can see the backpanel? I'm curious to see how the waistbelt attaches etc. Thanks!

    #1842199
    Ken Thompson
    BPL Member

    @here

    Locale: Right there

    Very cool concept. Any chance we could see it being worn? Just don't drop that on anything sharp when loaded.

    #1842207
    Konrad .
    BPL Member

    @konrad1013

    "Just don't drop that on anything sharp when loaded."

    HAHHA, i just got this awesome visual of a carbon fiber pinata, with freeze dried food exploding everywhere on the trail as the payout.

    #1842244
    Andrew F
    Member

    @andrew-f

    Locale: San Francisco Bay Area

    That is awesome. I've never liked packs that carry the can on top, since it's in the way and seems kind of awkward. That is an elegant solution to that problem…

    #1842633
    Ronald Rod
    Member

    @bespokegear

    Locale: Front Range

    Glad you guys like it. A couple more details:

    1. The corrugated plastic actually runs underneath the can and forms a bit of a shelf to help keep it in place, and to help protect the can. Though I think the can is pretty dang strong, and can withstand some pretty serious abuse.

    2. The hipbelt has a sleeve that it passes through. There is Velcro on the hipbelt and on the inside of the sleeve to help keep it in place.

    3. The can feels super secure in when it is on the pack. I did cut a 6" by 8" piece of rug gripper that I place between the can and the bottom 'shelf' to help prevent side to side movement.

    side

    .back 2

    .3

    .side 3

    Let me know if there are any other questions.

    Cheers!

    #1842672
    Casey Bowden
    BPL Member

    @clbowden

    Locale: Berkeley Hills

    How much?

    What size Bearikade?

    #1843165
    Harald Hope
    Spectator

    @hhope

    Locale: East Bay

    Very cool idea, good to see someone 'thinking out of the bag', so to speak. Can't help but remind me of my old REI external frame pack with the sleeping bag and tent stuck under the main storage sack of the pack.

    How does this carry with the can almost empty of food? Seems like it might be a touch top heavy at that point, have you found the way the weight distributes over a week noteworthy? that's the only real downside I can see with this method.

    If I were a cottage gear guy I'd take a close look at this, it really does seem to solve a big issue with UL/SUL packs, at very little cost beyond the possible top heavy part of the weight distribution, but then again, ul loads aren't that high in the first place. I use a Lowe zepton true 50 liter pack (ie, internal bag volume is really 50 liters), and bv500 fits fine across the top, inside the pack that is, horizontally, but that's not a sul pack, just a quite light one at 2.5 pounds or so.

    #1843172
    MFR
    Spectator

    @bigriverangler

    Locale: West

    Is that an adjustable torso and a removable hipbelt that I see? Incredible workmanship, and really well thought out.

    On the plus side, you won't need a bear can in Glacier. Most if not all of the developed campgrounds have bear hangs, and it can be pretty difficult to get a permit for an undeveloped site (doable, but difficult).

    Awesome work! Congratulations.

    #1843243
    j lan
    Member

    @justaddfuel

    Locale: MN

    "Just don't drop that on anything sharp when loaded."

    HAHHA, i just got this awesome visual of a carbon fiber pinata, with freeze dried food exploding everywhere on the trail as the payout."

    You guys are kidding, right? You know those canisters can survive a 100ft drop off a cliff, right?

    One night in the ONP we left our rental bear canisters(same model shown here) out and some wiley raccoons rolled them off a nearby cliff onto some rocks. Barely a scratch. The fabric will burst into a million pieces before the canister will even dent/crack.

    #1843244
    Ken Thompson
    BPL Member

    @here

    Locale: Right there

    Not all canisters are created equal. Does give a good visual though. Like the cushioned flap too.

    #1843284
    Sam Farrington
    BPL Member

    @scfhome

    Locale: Chocorua NH, USA

    Ron,
    Congratulations on your truly unique idea and bringing it to life.
    I don't hike where bear cans are required, but for years have felt the angst expressed on BPL threads from those who do.
    This really addresses the problems they express, in the most creative way imaginable, and with the added pluses you noted.
    I could actually go to bear can country now.

    #1843364
    Gregory Petliski
    Member

    @gregpphoto

    "One night in the ONP we left our rental bear canisters(same model shown here) out and some wiley raccoons rolled them off a nearby cliff onto some rocks. Barely a scratch. The fabric will burst into a million pieces before the canister will even dent/crack."

    You were RENTING bearikades??

    As for the back, way cool! I too am always bummed at having to pack around the can. I even bought my last pack mostly because it would fit the bearikade weekender horizontally instead of vertically. I just have one question, does having the can and the associated food weight on the bottom of the pack make it carry awkwardly? I always learned that you want your heaviest items as close to the body as possible and between the shoulder blades.

    #1843365
    d k
    BPL Member

    @dkramalc

    I love your idea – beautiful job on the pack!

    #1843421
    j lan
    Member

    @justaddfuel

    Locale: MN

    "You were RENTING bearikades??"

    Olympic national park was picked by the company that manufactures bearikades as a testing ground for their products. So if you go to a ranger station they will ask you if you have a canister and rent one to you for like $3 and if your trip is long enough or if you are lucky enough, you get a bearikade, otherwise you get a garcia.

    Good times!

    #1843425
    Konrad .
    BPL Member

    @konrad1013

    Thanks for the additional pics Ronald! Quick question, what forms the curving support/shelf that goes underneath the bear canister? I can see the corrugated plastic, and it appears to stop at or slightly after the beginning of the curve, but what material forms the rest of it? Is it just fabric? is there CCF sandwiched in there? or am I wrong and its still corrugated plastic? Thanks!

    #1843650
    Doug Coe
    BPL Member

    @sierradoug

    Locale: Bay Area, CA, USA

    That's brilliant! I love seeing someone rethink the whole approach to carrying a bear can in a light pack.

    Have you used it yet? How does it carry?

    #1843699
    Hobbes W
    Member

    @hobbesatronic

    Locale: SoCal

    Very clever. I have also built a couple of packs expressly for carrying bear canisters. Like you, I realized the name of the game is to have the can @ the bottom of the pack down in the small of your back.

    (As for storing food/weight distribution, I store light items [G/C, tarp, beanie, gloves, etc] in the can & place my food on top of the can as if I didn't have it at all. That is, I pack in the traditional style of having the heaviest/densest weight right in the middle. Of course, I have all the food sealed, etc – exactly as if I didn't have a can and was hanging. The can is purely for legal purposes; well, I do use it at night since it's already there.)

    Anyway, I like the idea of placing the can horizontally. In my previous efforts, I've put the can in vertically (right-side up), but since it's a BV 450, it fits down in the small of my back and has worked very well.

    The one comment I would have about your design is that if it were all one-piece, then you could use your sleeping pad as a back pad/pseudo-internal frame from top to bottom (ie all the way to the hip belt attach point). Right now, it looks like the dangling cloth that backs up the "can caddy" is sewn on the bottom. If this was continuous within the pack, then your pad/frame could extend from top to bottom.

    Of course, if you did that, then you wouldn't have to create the stand-alone caddy – you could just measure the appropriate dimensions for the can section of the pack and then stuff the can down the bottom of your pack.

    In fact, I think I might try that. Like I said above, I've placed mine vertically, but if I modify my dimensions a little bit for the bottom of the pack, I can get the can down there horizontally without making the rest of the pack oversized, etc.

    #1843705
    Bob Gross
    BPL Member

    @b-g-2-2

    Locale: Silicon Valley

    "In my previous efforts, I've put the can in vertically (right-side up), but since it's a BV 450, it fits down in the small of my back and has worked very well."

    Also, you might try putting the BV 450 in the pack with the flat lid against your back. That works best for me.

    –B.G.–

    #1844009
    Hobbes W
    Member

    @hobbesatronic

    Locale: SoCal

    "In my previous efforts, I've put the can in vertically (right-side up), but since it's a BV 450, it fits down in the small of my back and has worked very well."

    Also, you might try putting the BV 450 in the pack with the flat lid against your back. That works best for me.

    –B.G.–

    Bob, you're not gonna believe this, but that's how I used to pack my can in my old Osprey pack. When I started building my own UL packs, I naturally just stuck it right side up within my rolled sleeping pad.

    After I posted my original reply above, I began to think about the respective dimensions of the big 3: BV, Bearicade & Garcia. With the exception of the BV 450 (the solo model I have), all are taller than wide. However, with the BV 450, it's actually 8.3" tall vs 8.7" wide.

    So, in this case, you're absolutely correct – I should continue placing it flat against my back. And, since it's flat, I can once again place it in the middle of my pack. That is, abutted against my *folded* pad, my pack should be nice & flat through the mid-section.

    However, and this is a huge however, in all other cases where the can is taller than wide, it needs to be placed either upright or sideways. Now, this is where it gets interesting: since you want to minimize the length of can running along your spine, it should be placed sideways as shown in the photos @ the top of the thread. And because you want to limit the narrow contact point of the cylinder against your back (even sideways), it should be placed at the bottom as also shown.

    OK, the next question is whether to have the can attached externally – really, no different from the external frames that originated in the 60/70s where bags/pads attached from the bottom via cinch straps. The advantage of these models is that the frame is continuous from top to bottom where the hip belts attach.

    I think the missing piece of this pack is not having the sleeping pad extend all the way to bottom (to the hip belt attach point) in order to create a complete virtual frame. Other than that, it's a nice re-visit to an older design, updated to deal with bulky bear cans instead of bulky sleeping bags. In fact, I think it would work especially well as the can got taller/bigger ie the BV 500, etc.

    #1844384
    Scott Nelson
    BPL Member

    @nlsscott

    Locale: Southern California and Sierras

    I am intrigued by this idea and applaud your work. One suggestion I might add is that if you are carrying a Garcia Can, the dreaded "raised Rim" will hit you in the spine. If you add some strips of blue foam on the pack on either side of where the "rim" hits your back, you will pad around it. This will pad your back, and help hold the can in place from shifting laterally. Cheers, Scott

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