Suggestions for Zpacks hip belt mod?

[Cal]

Hi all. I’ve got the arc haul and love it except for one thing, not enough padding for me personally on the hip belt. Specifically I’d like it to be wider and thicker, like on my ULA ohm. If I could somehow have the ULAs shoulder straps and hip belt on the arc haul the world would be right. I’ve considered cannibalizing the ohm and somehow sewing them on the arc but I have no sewing experience and hate the thought of destroying the ohm. I’ve bought the extra padding zpacks offers but it’s still not enough. I see online it’s a simple fix for the shoulder straps, lots of add on choices for wider/thicker slip on padding, but I’m wondering if anyone has experience/suggestions for the zpacks hip belt. The goal is to have a wider, thicker belt for better weight distribution. Thx much,

cal

[Dan]

Unfortunately, I don’t have a specific suggestion for you, but I’m wondering how much weight you’re trying to carry with it. The Arc packs are definitely not going to be comfortable above a certain limit.

[Cal]

Agreed. I keep the weight to not more than 30lbs, usually less, which falls within specs for the arc. The problem is more anatomical. I’ve got some funky hip bones and any thinner belt on any pack has been uncomfortable. I would just go with a ULA but I really like the breezeway the arc creates on my back since I tend to sweat more than most. Thx

[Bonzo]

I’d get in touch with ZPacks and see if they’ll make you a belt to your spec; they already know exactly what size it needs to be in order to fit the pack, so it shouldn’t take a lot of thought for them to make what you need to fit you…assuming that what you want/need can physically be fitted to the pack, of course.

If that fails, I’d drop a line to John at Alpine Luddites; he does modifications to packs other than his own, and he’s very good at what he does.  His lead time on custom packs is about six months at the time of this writing, but for hip belts he may be able to squeeze you in sooner.

If that fails, any of the other custom pack makers should be able to get you what you need without difficulty.

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

Where does it hurt? Zpacks makes a lumbar pad. I looked at it and made my own out of stuff I had on hand and it helped with being able to feel the hardware behind the hip belt. It also helped with it being too large of a hip belt.

[Dan]

Agreed. I keep the weight to not more than 30lbs,

TBH, I typically don’t like to carry much more than 20lbs in an Arc pack, and it isn’t really comfortable until I get it down to about 18 lbs. Maybe I would stretch to a starting weight of 25 lbs for a longer trip in shoulder season, but the first couple of days would not be particularly comfortable.

30 lbs would be way too much, regardless of what the company might specify. If I were regularly carrying that much, I wouldn’t even consider that pack.

[Cameron M]

I have one of the older Blasts, and I found that by adding the Z-packs shoulder pads and lumber pad, I can do 32 lbs on the first day. My experience conforms with the evolution of later Blasts that beefed up those areas, became 2-3 oz heavier and gained rated load capacity. But yes, I am much happier on the third day when I get closer to 27 lbs.

[Greg Pehrson]

You wouldn’t have to cut up the Ohm–ULA sells replacement hip belts at a reasonable price here.  They have replacement shoulder straps too.

 

[Cal]

Great suggestions all! I have tried the lumbar and shoulder pads by zpacks and they’ve helped some. I’ll get in touch with ula about the shoulder straps. If that fails I’ll contact some of the custom shops mentioned by Bonzo. Thanks again!

[Adrian Griffin]

I agree that the Arc suspension is good only to about 25 to 27 lbs full walkout weight (i.e. including the weight of the pack). Although the Blast and the Haul are rated to more than this by the manufacturer, they become less than ideal in the upper twenties. If you’re regularly carrying 30 lbs for the majority of your trip, maybe the Arcs are not the right pack for you.

[Cal]

I agree. I’ve actually got an Atmos and an Outdoorsman Palisades 90 for the heavier trips. Generally I’m right at 25 with the arc. I’m really liking the Alpine Luddites website, looks like a nice resource

[Bonzo]

 I’m really liking the Alpine Luddites website, looks like a nice resource.

John is a good guy.  He knows what works, he doesn’t judge, he can build anything you want, and he can even put up with unreasonably-difficult-to-please customers like me that take literal months to make decisions.  Word to the wise, though: don’t start browsing or you’ll go down the rabbit hole and you’ll start thinking “You know, I should really get one of these” and that’s how you end up with a pack that you caress fondly at night when nobody is watching.

[Cal]

😂😂😂

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