Straps – best material for something to stay tight

[John M]

I’m planning a MYOG pack and a few of the straps will need to be pulled tight and stay tight.  I’m wondering whether to use nylon or polyester straps.  My guess is that nylon might stretch a little and polyester might slip in the ladder lock.  The straps will go thru ladder locks and they will be used to tighten the mesh panel (back pad) drum tight on an external pack frame.  My second question is how can you tell nylon from polyester straps by looking at them.

[Tipi Walter]

Look at what Dan McHale uses and copy him.  Or study Kifaru’s webbing options.  Email either for their sources.

I once sent my Mystery Pack in for repairs and had them replace my shoulder strap webbing with long-lasting cordura instead of the normal webbing.  Grips the plastic buckles better and less prone to fray.

Old straps as you well know slip under weight, defeating their purpose.  In fact, I think it’s beneficial to renew all your harness webbing and replace old buckles every couple years.

[John M]

Actually, add polypro to that list.  Nylon, polyester or polypropylene?  Which would be best?

 

[R]

I think the best nylon vs polyester test is in how they burn.  Search BPL on this – it’s been described.

[Ken Thompson]

Nylon is a tighter weave than polyester in my experience.

FWIW my backpanel is held drum tight with cord and a knot

[John M]

I considered a cord and knot for my final design and may go there eventually.  But for now I’m using something I have – a kelty trekker back panel which fits almost perfectly.  Except, the vertical strap is too short and I just need to replace it.

I don’t know what material the trekker strap is and I know anything will work but something has to be the best option – that’s why I asked the question.

 

[John M]

Well, thats a good idea but I have perfectly good gear that I don’t want to put a match to in order to see what its made of – example osprey isoform hipbelt.  The strap material looks perfect for what I’m doing but I use the hipbelt and dont want to set it on fire.

 

[Nick Smolinske]

LineLoc3’s with 3mm Lawson Glowire hold better than any webbing/lineloc combination I’ve tried. And believe me, I have tried pretty much everything. The next best thing I’ve found is buckles with slightly oversized webbing – 10mm ladder locks with 11mm webbing from Zpacks hold pretty well. But not as well as the LineLoc3’s with 3mm glowire.

Not only that but I actually have made a pack that uses a mesh back panel like you describe, and it uses the LineLoc3’s. It’s running on at least a year since I last fiddled with the buckles, maybe two. Set it and forget it.

[John M]

Let me define my question a little better.  I’m replacing a 1.5 inch strap on the back panel pad from a kelty trekker frame on a much lighter frame I’m building.  The back panel fits perfectly but the vertical strap is a little short so I’m replacing it.

In order to function as intended I need to use 1.5 inch wide strap material and a big 1.5 inch ladder lock.  The strap tensions the pad vertically (it won’t get used much) and its protected – abrasion and wear is not an issue.  The strap’s only function is to pull the back panel tight and to stay tight.

So will nylon or polyester strap pull tight and stay better?

 

[Jerry Adams]

doesn’t make any difference, get what’s available

theoretically, nylon stretches a little when it gets wet, but the distance is so short for a pack you won’t notice

[Bob Moulder]

I need to use 1.5 inch wide strap material and a big 1.5 inch ladder lock.  The strap tensions the pad vertically (it won’t get used much) and its protected – abrasion and wear is not an issue

Since it isn’t going to be adjusted a lot, perhaps use a 1.5″ Tri-glide with the webbing tail threaded back through the first slot.

[Nick Smolinske]

If you can get it tight enough, Bob’s suggestion of a tri-glide would work great. I have used that technique plenty of times, you just double-back the webbing through the tri-glide like a climbing harness. It definitely helps to cut the end of the webbing at an angle to make it easier to thread.

As a bonus it will be a bit lower profile than a ladder lock.

[Sam C]

Go to strapworks dot com, those dudes seriously geek out on this stuff and have videos going through various pieces of hardware each with various types of straps/webbing each at different thickness.

They are probably the best resource for this type of stuff… ….and list NASA as one of their customers.

[John M]

Thanks.  I agree that a ladder lock would work.  I also think it would be tough to tighten up.  If the tension slips it would be a real pain to tighten back up.  It will be between the back panel and the backpack so access to it will be difficult once tensioned.  Anyhow, thanks.

 

 

[Luke F]

I’ve never really had a problem with any ladderlock and webbing combination in the static use the OP is looking for, I have a similar trampoline back tensioned on my jansport with just some 1″ milspec repair ladderlocks and they’ve never moved once cranked tight, I would say a ladderlock is far better then a triglide in this application, and you can double back almost any buckle.

It is risky to make too many generalizations about materials beyond their innate properties, you can find loose and tight woven examples of any of the three webbing materials, but most commonly found polyester webbing (especially the 1.5″ that usually looks like seatbelt in poly) is going to be slicker. I hate polypropylene webbing with a passion and have yet to recommend it to anyone for any purpose.

As stated, melting the end of the web is the best way to discern its properties, but nylon is far and away the most common for any backpack application.

[John M]

Nick,  My original idea was to weave a back panel out of cord, old school, like the seat in a canoe or an old cane chair.  To get done quicker I am trying to utilize something I already have – the kelty trekker back panel.  The woven cordage idea requires some sort of spacer (like a loom) at the frame on both sides and I couldn’t think of a simple solution that I could fabricate.

I like your idea of a mesh backpanel tensioned with cordage but I can’t envision how to do the cordage/mesh attach point.  Sewing that to form a strong attach point would be a challenge. I suppose that grommets in the mesh reinforced with grosgrain and bowline knots in the cordage through the grommets would be stout enough.  How did you do it?

 

[John M]

Thanks.  I already checked strapworks before posting this.  They had some information but nothing I didn’t already know.  They do have the best prices I could find though.

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