HELP! Need hip belt extender for waist belt – Gregory Baltoro 65

[RICK L]

Hey Guys and Girls….  I’m hoping you can help me out. I was SO pumped to get my new Backpack in the mail… well, it was a used once Gregory Baltoro 65 in LARGE – but with the straps out as far as they go… I’m still about 2″ away from clipping it together… When I look up this topic on like the REI site they offer a new hipbelt! It looks like the same one that came on the pack, There IS a question in the Q&A section for THAT pack and REI responds… :”We have a solution to extend that belt – please contact us and we will email you instructions on how to do it”  I just called them and the girl acted like I was speaking Russian! I DID leave my email address and she said that she’d get back to me…. So, doesn’t ANYONE make simple 4 or 6″ 1/5″ webbed strap that will clip to this pack?  ANY response – guidance or wisdom will be greatly appreciated…. Cheers

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

I think you just need buckles the same size as those and some webbing. You might try a hardware or fabric shop or gear shop and see if they have something that works.

[RICK L]

Hey- thanks for your input. I think I’m going to take it to a seamstress or Taylor shop and have a piece of webbing add it on to get some length

[Sam Farrington]

Agree.  Hip belt webbing is a PITA to sew with a home machine, even one of the better ones.

Sounded like you were talking about getting the belt to buckle around your hips, not some other attachment to the pack.  If so, then:

First see if they sell an X-large belt that fits your Baltoro.  Contact Gregory for that info, not REI.  We have a new REI store here, and have already run into several similar situations.  With REI, a good sense of humor is a must.

If not, you’ll need longer lengths of webbing from the belt to each side of the buckle. Just guessing here, because doubt there will be a close up of the belt on the Gregory website.

Depending on how the belt and buckle work together (With Osprey belts you pull the webbing forward; on conventional belts, you pull it back-separating the ends.  When I was making packs with buckled hip belts, I ordered Osprey belts from REI, because they are far easier to tighten and adjust for a snug fit.

There is a potential problem:  If you just sew on extensions to the webbing coming from the belt on each side, the seam may get jammed up in the buckle when you pull everything snug.  For this reason, I’ve always had to remove the stitching holding the belt to the webbing on each side, and sew on longer pieces of webbing.  And I sometimes have to take the belt to a cobbler, not a seamster, because it takes a lot of force to sew thick webbing to a thick hip belt with foam, other stitching, etc.

First, if there is no X-L belt, I would see if Gregory would do the revision.  They would need your hip girth measurement to be sure to get it right.  Otherwise, a good local cobbler I’m afraid, although you can talk to your seamster to see about what is feasible.

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

The no sew option which I was not describing well, would be to find a buckle that will connect to yours, its male end to your pack’s female and and its female end to your pack’s male end. Your new buckle has its own webbing When you connect it, you pull tight your new webbing, not the pack’s. Does that make sense?

Oh, and I have not had any difficulty sewing nylon webbing with my 1963 sewing machine. The biggest problem would be the logistical problem of getting the pack on the table and the part you want to sew under the needle. I have also sewn webbing by hand lots of times and never had a problem with it coming apart. As someone who makes a LOT of sewing mistakes, I am very confident about the strength of hand-sewn items as I have spent a lot of painstaking hours seam ripping my mistakes. There is also a tool you can get called a speedy stitcher that will let you sew by hand through many layers of stuff, canvas, leather or what have you. I’ve made shoes and sandals and sewn them right to soling material with a speedy stitcher. You could easily sew through the padded part with one of these.

[RICK L]

Hey Diane-you and I are on the same page the only issue is it would be nice if everybody made their quick clip connectors with the same design so that they could all be interchangeable-the Gregory has like a V design and I’m not sure if I can just buy like a 6 inch piece that I could just clip and clip and be done

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

Yeah, I know. The hardware store sells pretty generic 1inch and 2inch buckles. If it was me, I’d bring my pack and try them out. I’d also try out some backpacks at the thrift store and if any of them clicked into my buckle securely I’d buy the thrift store backpack just to harvest the hardware. But I’m a weird DIY kind o person.

[Sam Farrington]

Rick and Diane,
Sorry, should not have posted without first getting a close look at a Gregory Baltoro.
Note that I’ve often run into webbing-belt connections that are not sewable even by hand with a speedy stitcher. The worst was a friend’s canvas shoulder pack. My go-to machine is a 1970 Kenmore Zig-Zag that handles anything within reason.

[Tim P]

I bought a large belt off REI’s used gear site when I wanted to mix and match belts with packs.  I’m a medium pack, but wanted the large hip belt:  https://www.rei.com/used/shop/search?q=gregory

I also bought the more perforated shoulder straps, which I found more comfortable.

Is there any chance that the previous person shortened the belt or swapped it out?  I bought a used medium pack and found that the medium belt didn’t work for me.  The pack kept sliding down.  I needed the large belt. I had a 42″ waist when I started backpacking with the Baltoro and the medium was long enough to clip.  The large was more than long enough.

[roy c]

nice to know i’m not the only one with this issue with this Baltoro 65…i tried to contact Gregory but got no response.  no one answers the phone and i sent email but no reply yet.  i bought pack at REI and had them order the wider hip belt but its still a couple of inches too small.  got really frustrated with the lack of ideas….funny thing is the Gregory day pack belt was fine….so when i got home i took the belt off my old REI pack and put it on the Gregory and just took the hanging belt that was sewn into the Gregory and just ran it across the back of the pack …didn’t want to cut it as REI said it would void the warranty.  now the pack fits perfectly.  Gregory and Osprey need to realize that not all us fat guys are too lazy to backpack…what harm would it do to put an extra 8 in. on a belt?  i saw a man with a similar situation in REI when i was there yesterday and he was forced to buy the REI pack due to belt size….he would have paid twice the 150 to get a better pack….i like the Gregory fit and frame and the way it keeps the pack off my back.

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