Stripped down Arc Blast?

And to be clear, by “stripped” I just mean removing all the suspension components (horiz bars, vert rods, trampoline mesh & hipbelt). I didn’t cut off anything.

Quick report on what I found in case anyone else gets a hankerin’ to try this.

DON’T.

The problems all stem from the pretty loose connection of the shoulder straps w/ the body, especially at the top. This works very nicely when all the suspension components are in place and most of the weight is resting on the hipbelt. It becomes a big problem when all that is removed.

First, since the connection is via webbing, vs having the strap sewn fully into the body of the pack, the pack flops around A LOT. I’m sure this is why just about every frameless pack I can think of has the straps sewn directly to the pack.

Second, the Arc Blast has an adjustment at the top allowing the user to fine tune the torso length. See pic below. This is accomplished by having a loop of webbing that goes through a ladder lock and a tri-glide on the pack. The problem I realized is that when you remove the carbon rod stays/bows, there is nothing to stop the loop from collapsing so the pack gets compressed and the tri-glide and ladder lock are smooshed together. Again, this contributes to a super floppy pack.

Thanks for sharing your findings, Ryan!

Well my 2014 52L arc blast weighs 13.x oz without frame

But my take is its too big. Really, too wide.

And the 3oz frame is well worth the additonal carry ability