argg, straps… off by a bit on new pack

[Harald Hope]

Working on version two of pack one, cannot rip apart seams again, or the fabric will just wear out.

On test hike, realized that I'd made the shoulder straps, a basic J pattern, 3" too short on the top straight part, not realizing that the pack, with frame tubes, sticks out about 3" from shoulders give or take. Result is straps bite a bit into armpit. So the J curve just starts about 3" too soon, and hits my armpit, not going under it a bit. So close, yet so far….

Normally I'd rip off the top part and straps, but I already did that, and can't do it again, too many holes there now, so I'm debating cutting the strap off about 1" from the pack body, and then making a new set and attaching the new ones to the old ones stubs with a felled seam.

Anyone have experience with this, is it strong enough? Seems like it should be. There's no shoulder / body contact at that point, it's in the air. 3/8" padding will not be present after the seam, to the body. Very sad cosmetically since the pack looks great to my eyes as is, but functionality has to be present as well obviously.

Reluctant to toss this one because it's made with the DP wx07/wx21, the wx07 no longer available, and every other feature on it turned out really good.

Next time I'm doing a 70d/500d prototype, which will also yield a superlight model.

Any advice on how to handle this glitch? Thanks

[David Chenault]

Assuming the material on the new and old straps is strong enough, no problem. Sew the beginning of a felled seam with a generous (1-2") allowance sticking up, then fold over onto the main strap and add a box stitch and a bar tack or two. If the material is on the light side, surface area will add strength.

[Harald Hope]

Thanks for feedback. The top of the strap is 200d oxford, so it should be fine, the bottom 3d mesh, not sure how strong that is, but I'm not really relying on it in general. My feeling was it should be fine since that's essentially the same connection as to the pack body, with the addition of the felled seam, ie, even stronger.

So you say a 1 inch or more fell? If that's how you call it, ie, a 1 inch or more width of the box/fell? With box stitching etc, that makes sense, that's how I attached the straps to the pack body, and that connection was about 1 plus inch too, glad you mentioned that, I would have gone for 1/2", glad I asked.

Ah well, live and learn, I vow to make prototypes, heh, no matter how lazy I am, it seems a quick prototype that is largely the same as the final design would save a lot of headache and dev time. I guess I'll have to start that vow with the new straps.

[Author]

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