Catalyst bakpad/aluminum stays

Take the stays out of your pack and bend one to the curve of truer back. Bend the second to match it, reinsert the stays into their sleeves, load the pack and try it on. Adjust the stays as you see fit. Helped a lot with the fit of my catalyst.
-James

Souds simple enough? Did you experience any discomfort like I've described with it stock as delivered? I'm asking in hopes this is the only issue I need to fix. Thank you or your response btw!

Bending the stays used to actually be part of the instructions that came with my p2 (ancestor of the catalyst). You may be able to do this while they are in the pack itself. I don't know what the official procedure for the newer pack, but if you can bend the stays I would not jump to any conclusion about how the pack fits until you have done that first. You should be able to get it to fit like a glove as far as that goes.

You can try bending it a little at a time with the pack hanging over the edge of a table. bend it, try it on for fit, and wash and repeat until you are satisfied. You want to get the lower part to follow the curve of your back.

Double check the torso fit – when on and loaded where the the tops of the straps connect to the pack relative to your body?

But the primary adjustments that will help with your shoulders are (1) loosen sternum strap and (especially) (2) tighten load lifters. You should be able to get it to feel like the shoulder straps are barely touching on top, just on the front to keep the pack from falling back, with all the weight on your hips.

Edit: I'm sure someone can give you more info about the "newer" pack (as in not more than a decade old like mine) but on second thought make sure the stays are actually aluminum before you bend them.

Thanks for the assistance Mark. They do appear to be aluminum and have a really bad pre curve to them as I eyeball them and try to match them to the curve of my back.

I had a loose sternum strap and played with the load lifters a lot on the trip…no matter what I did it was the stock shape of those aluminum stays that had my back feeling like it was being pushed forward out of its natural curvature.

I'll be playing with the bends this week.

If I can't get it to fit me proper…back to the drawing board.

Shawn, be careful not to bend them so far as to have the exact shape of your back. The curve should be similar, but not as dramatic. This is especially true if you're more muscular (sounds like you are from the OP).

If you bend them too much, you sacrifice torso length and thus load carrying ability and comfort. I say this because I made that mistake for several months. My back has a more pronounced curve due to years of powerlifting, and when I bent the stays on my Porter to match it exactly, it was very, very comfortable but the torso quickly collapsed (I had effectively shortened it by a few inches) with anything above 20 pounds.

The trick is to get the shape of your back without being as severe as it actually is. It's a delicate balance, but after some trial and error, you should know exactly where it needs to be. For me, once I made that adjustment, the pack carries better than ever and is just as comfortable.

Thank you Clayton…. If you hadn't said that I would have done exactly what you just warned me not to do. I too have a pronounced curve to my bak due to dead lifting and the likes. I appreciate the help.

Shawn,

I have the slightly smaller Circuit, which has a single stay down the middle. I had to slightly tweak the curve to dial in the fit.

Just in case … and you may already know this … but the biggest thing I did to get the pack to feel right was to start wearing the hip belt high. Again mine is the slightly smaller Circuit, but I read somewhere on here that the ULA hip belts are designed to be up over top of your hips, and once I started wearing it up and over it made all the difference in the world in the way the pack felt … at least for me anyway.

Cheers.

That sounds about right. Once it fits better on the back I think the hip belt may seat more comfortably (and higher), and so on.

Mine fits my back pretty well, but I agree you don't have to go all the way. On the other hand it does sound like you might possibly NEED to bend them to get a better fit more than the average person. Shortening of the torso is something to keep an eye on, but it sound like from you other thread that you might have a bit to work with. If it was already on the short end of a proper fit and *then* you started bending you might have a problem.

You don't have the luxury of loosening the hip belt of course, so the main thing is to curve it enough to get it contact your lower back while going around you upper back enough to get out of the way. Make sure you follow the standard prescription to pack the heaviest items (bear can, etc.) in the bottom of the pack if you can.