Seek Outside shoulder straps packed out

[Chris L]

My wife and I both have MYOG packs built on the Seek Outside frame/harness. After using them for around 40 days, the padding in both of our shoulder straps has become completely packed out under the 1″ webbing. It’s paper-thin. We do tend to carry heavy-ish loads due to extended food carries and packrafting (40-50# is common) but that’s what SO packs are designed for. Having the bulk of the load on my hips for extended periods seems to exacerbate a hip issue I have, so I like to switch the load to my shoulders on occasion – which is quite uncomfortable now that there is so little padding left beneath the load-bearing 1″ webbing.

My HMG 4400 pack (which has seen much more use) still has intact, uncompressed foam beneath the webbing, as do most of my other old packs.

The shoulder straps kinda are what they are, so my question is more about how I could improve upon them with a MYOG version. I considered posting in that forum, but thought some non-MYOG folks might have input on foam thickness/type, design, etc. Is it simply a matter of using better quality foam? Does the edge-binding design of the HMG shoulder straps “stabilize” the foam so it doesn’t squish out? I’m also considering increasing the load-bearing to 1.5″ to better distribute the load.

Thoughts/ideas welcome. Thanks!

[Philip Tschersich]

You might try sending an email to seek outside‘s customer service just to see if they have any thoughts on it. I have a lot of days using their packs including carrying elk quarters or entire deer, plus multiple 100+ mile packraft/hiking trips and have never noticed any of the harness components packing out. Probably worth a quick query.

[nunatak]

Here’s my take on this, from a MYOG perspective: There’s foam, and then there’s Evazote.

Most of us, and the cottage guys, are using ‘foam’. It might say EVA or crosslinked or something else on the product page, but within pretty narrow parameters they all perform similar.

Unlike Evazote, especially EV50. This type, only produced by Zote Foams, or companies licensing the process, excels in compression recovery, longevity and feel-good sensations after squeezing it.

It’s a little heavier, hard to get, expensive. McHale uses it.

I have seen outlets mistaking Evazote for plain EVA in their marketing, so buyer’s beware.

[Chris L]

Thanks guys. I’ll reach out to SO and see what they have to say. Honestly though, it sounds interesting trying to make my own set.

Good info about the Evazote foam. Looks like NSI sells EV50 here. They only sell 1/4″ which is probably a bit thin, but I could double layer it or add a denser 1/8″ layer. If anyone else has any sources I’d love to hear about it.

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