Finished weight: 11.3 oz.
Newton, you were right. My next MYOG pack was sooner, not later.
I have been backpacking with a GG Mariposa Plus for a while and have liked the feel of the pack, but ever since I got into MYOG, I decided I wanted to make my own version of it with the features I wanted but still have similar material.
The main pack is 70D ripstop nylon. Reinforced areas are 200D Oxford, and the bottom is Xpac VX21. Instead of the 3D Mesh on the underside of the shoulder straps and hip belts on the Mariposa Plus, I decided to use 70D ripstop nylon to save weight on this pack. The topside of the shoulder straps and hip belts is 200D Oxford. The hip belt webbing is 1", and the sternum strap is 1/2" webbing.
Also, instead of the back pad sleeves on the Mariposa Plus, I decided to sew two T's of 1/2" elastic on the top and bottom of the back panel that accomodates a GG Nightlight Torso Pad.
It takes some stretching to get the pad in, but the 1/2" elastic stretches very well. If it ever happens to tear or rip anywhere, I will use the grosgrain attachment points all along the sides and use some shock cord to hold the pad in place.
For the roll top closure, I sewed on a strip of velcro in the center of the front panel above the top pocket and sewed a strip of velcro about half way down the top of the extension collar. You simply cinch the top closed, roll it down about half way until you reach the strip of velcro, fold it over, and secure it to the other strip of velcro. It's similar to the GG Murmur closure but only uses 1 strip of velcro in the middle instead of 2 on the sides.
I made the hip belt pockets and water bottle pockets out of 70D ripstop nylon to save weight. To allow water to drain, there are two slits on the bottom of each side of the pockets.
For the big mesh pocket, I split it up into a top and bottom mesh pocket to make it easier to find things rather than digging in one big pocket. I used lycra mesh (heavy, I know) for these two pockets, because I wanted them to be durable, and I wanted a good stretch mesh. I also added some velcro at the top of each pocket to latch them to the pack. [Note: the silver sharpie worked great on Lycra]
Since I made this pack with the same dimensions as my Mariposa Plus, the initial feel and comfort of it is very close to that pack, though the nylon isn't quite as comfortable as the 3D mesh, but I think it will be comfortable enough. This weekend I am going to take both packs on a hike to try them out and compare. The weight difference between the two packs is 3.3 oz., because I modified my Mariposa Plus and got it down to 14.6 oz. As long as this homemade version is comfortable enough on a long hike, it may become my go-to pack at 11.3 oz., at least until I make a SUL weekend/day pack. ;)
