Three Packs and a Tenkara Eribra

Beautiful work. I have been checking out everyone's designs, trying to figure out what I want to incorporate into my own first pack. I made some bike frame bags and small gas tank type bags and have some X-pac saved for a backpack. I can kind of eyeball the dimensions based on the Nalgene bottle in the pocket of the blue pack but could you list its dimensions/vol? Also, how thick is that green frame pad and what are the dims of the flat Al packstay you used? I noticed that the hip belt appears to be a little wider (taller?) than what some people use. I had been thinking of doing something similar as my neck/shoulder area can get pretty stiff and I would like to transfer weight to my hips as much as I can. Have you had them loaded up and out for a spin yet?

Michael
Beautifully designed packs and sewing. I have question on your side compression straps they look like their removable like the Cilo Gear packs. It looks like you cut away part of a ladder lock buckle.
Can you post a close up photo of it and explain what you did if it removable strap system like Cilo gear packs.
Thank You ,
Terry

Thank you,

The green frame pad was just placed in there for the guy I made it for as a temporary solution. I think that I am going to replace it with evazote for a little extra padding/sleeping insulation for him. The stays are 1/4 in by 1/2 in. They provide a little extra stiffness at low weight.

The larger white cuben pack is 7 x 11 x 24, I believe. The blue xpac pack is 5.5 x 11 x 22 or so. The small one (my personal pack) is 4.5 x 11 x 21.

The hipbelts are 5 inches tall. I've loaded the white cuben pack up and worn it around before shipping it off to an old friend. It carried very well, and I was very pleased with the load transfer. The blue one is the most recently made. I made it for a hiking buddy. He was a larger torso than I do, so I was not able to test it out. We were supposed to go on a trip this past weekend, but it fell through. The pack I use is the small one, and it is just a webbing hipbelt.

Thank you Terry,

I don't have that pack at my apartment, but you are correct. I couldn't find any hardware that would work for a removable strap, so I used flat head screw driver and hammered out the center bar on a ladder lock on one side and a tri glide on the other. Those connect through tension held by a loop lock.

Good looking packs man. I really like the mix of fabrics you used. Do you plan to bend the aluminum stays to match the curve of your back?

Thank you

I have curved stays on other packs that I use, but I made the two framed ones for other people. I left them straight and just told them how to bend them so that they could get a custom curvature. It definitely gives a better feel to bend them.

Wow these look great. So I'm not the only one who likes the removable straps. I guess that answers the question that's been running rough my head for the past few days. I was wondering if I could find some of the cilo gear clips to add to my GG pack.

Thank you

I look around for a while, and I may have found some that would work from a china based dealer, but the knocked out triglides and ladder locks work well and are easily available. If you find any that are pre-made, please let me know!

What kind of cuben did you use for the frameless pack? How has it held up so far?

The Cuben is 2.2 or 2.5 ounce. It has held up well. There are a few flakes of mylar in a few spots. The tear resistance is remarkable. The good thing about cuben is that it takes tape well. If there is any flaking of the mylar, a small bit of cuben tape gives a pretty seamless repair.

Edit:

The small cuben pack is also my personal pack. I am not the most careful when walking through brush. The only nicks that the outer mylar layer has is on the extension collar.

Thanks. I don't have any cuben gear yet, but I'm debating between VX-21 and ZPack's cuben-polyester hybrid for my first custom job this winter.

I really like that compression system too. A lot of good ideas out there.

If I were debating between those two, I would go with a vx07 or tx 07 instead of either. The vx 21 is good, but would be overkill compared to the cuben/polyester. I received a sample of the cuben/polyester, and after my rudimentary steel wool test, I was not extremely impressed by the hybrid at the price. My brother uses a white pack (not the one linked here) that is made of vx07 and DX40. Besides discoloration from dirt, the fabric is fine. It has seen a good amount of use too. It is significantly cheaper than the cuben hybrid.

I really like this compression as well. It is versatile.

I should probably just get samples of all of them and see what I think. Thanks for the feedback. You've got me wishing I had the time to get after these projects now instead of later.

I hope you can get started on them soon. If you have any later questions, feel free to email me.