I think the haversack option is a good one. Sea to Summit ultrasil one is 48grams, could be made lighter with lighter material.
I noticed that S2S are now making mesh stuff sacks out of their 15D nano mesh. They look well made, and have a draw cord top.
20L=17grams
15L=14grams.
I think Aarons gear for 2-3 day trips will likely fit in 15L no worries. With a 15L pack, its going to streamline behind your torso that much better than a 20L pack, so the lighter weight mesh wouldn't be much of an issue, its unlikely to ever catch on anything on a trail.
Then, some mesh straps. The straps could be a heavier material, eg regular no-seeum, wouldn't weigh much, possibly still get under his 0.9oz mark.
I really like the way that strap adjustment is done on Mark's "old" once ounce pack-very light cord going through a tiny loop of grossgrain and coming back on itself with a prussik…so simple, and ingenious! Must weigh under a gram each side for that.
In the right conditions and location, water weight could be very minimal, eg, a half litre bottle, hand carried, or attached "adventure racing style" to shoulder straps.
I bought a nano S2S headnet today. Seems like it would be strong enough to handle an XUL load plus maybe five pounds of food. Be pushing it much beyond that, at least long term. For a second I thought that their nano head net and one of their nano stuff sacks is probably the same item, but then I noticed in their catalogue that the stuff sucks have a better drawcord tube, probably made from ultrasil. Shoulder straps could be attached to that, though when fully cinched the straps would have to depart from the same location. I really think for such an XUL pack, its probably better to have the entry on the bottom, Matt Kirk style, as this places less restrictions on how far apart you place the top of your shoulder straps-they can be nicely set, with your ccf pad as a back panel.