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Ultralight, burly-ish load hauler, 90L, 2.6#


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Home Forums Gear Forums Make Your Own Gear Ultralight, burly-ish load hauler, 90L, 2.6#

Viewing 9 posts - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)
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  • #3737056
    Chris L
    BPL Member

    @thechrislundy

    Locale: Idaho

    FYI – this is long-winded. I’ve enjoyed reading others’ write-ups of their projects but understand not everyone is into reading a novel. If not, skip to the pictures (next post) or skip it all!

    Just finished an ultralight load hauler which was the culmination of a few other earlier versions and way too much obsessing. Use case is primarily for extended packrafting – so bulky and potentially heavy loads. I wanted a pack that was comfortable at 45# but could handle 60#, and had plenty of volume for avoiding the packing inefficiencies of cramming a smaller pack (I’ve made do with a 70L pack for years). I also wanted something burlyish so it would last and heavier weights tend to be harder on a pack.

    First, a huge thanks to information and inspiration from these people/posts:

    The design of this pack utilizes the basic hanging hip belt concept and draws heavily from the designs of the SWD Big Wild, Rogue Panda Zoro, and Nunatak’s designs. I’ve made some other packs that use the Seek Outside frame, and have one design that’s nearly down to this weight, but ended up deciding to focus on the lower bulk design of twin stays. No doubt that the SO frame is better for truly monster loads, but can feel restrictive at “normal” heavy loads.

    Feature list:

    • Ecopak EPLX 400, sealed (except for bottom) with Quest Outfitters mylar seam tape. This fabric is pretty exciting – 6.9osy, exposed film for taping, recycled, and lacks the outer raised “X” texture of X-pac that seems to focus abrasion. The color choice is pretty limited. I’ve made one pack of Ultra 400, but delam issues, stitch elongation, cost, and the “shriveled” look over time deterred me from using it on this project. Ultra 400 would have likely trimmed 3-4 oz.
    • All black material is Robic 420D.
    • Bottom is double-layer Ecopak.
    • Top circ: 48”, bottom circ: 41”, unrolled height: 42”. Very similar in dimension to HMG Porter 5400.
    • Suspension consists of twin 25” 7075 aluminum tubular stays from Dan Ransom. These save about 3-4oz over 1/2″ x 1/8″ 7075 bar stock, and are much stiffer. Stay width at the waistbelt is 10”.
    • Waistbelt and shoulder straps are removable. This allows switching them between pack projects, and by removing them and the stays you’re essentially left with a sack that can be compressed and strapped to a packraft if not using a bow bag. Shoulder straps use 1/4” denser foam with 3/6” inverted spacer mesh (Thanks DaveC). Waistbelt has integral pockets and 3/8″ softer foam (OWF FY20) with the same inverted spacer mesh.
    • Large front pocket. Side pockets are primarily for packraft paddle and shafts.
      All compression straps are removable and use hooks similar to SWD packs.
    • Weight is 2lbs 10oz.

    This pack has yet to see real-world testing. It feels very comfortable around the house with 45#. Its predecessor (similar design but in VX21 with 23.5” 7075 bar stays) has seen real-world testing and performed admirably. I hope this one performs as well or better given the stiffer, longer stays.

    Please fire away with questions, comments, or critiques!

    #3737058
    Chris L
    BPL Member

    @thechrislundy

    Locale: Idaho

    See more photos here: https://imgur.com/a/g59wDHx

    #3737064
    Bonzo
    BPL Member

    @bon-zo

    Locale: Virgo Supercluster

    That’s nice and trim; good work!!

    #3737069
    Marcus
    BPL Member

    @mcimes

    Looks professional in the pics. Nice job. Great weight for a pack that size.

    #3737078
    YoPrawn
    Spectator

    @johan-river

    Locale: Cascadia

    That’s some really incredible work! Not just the apparent function of the pack, but the aesthetic quality is outstanding as well. Wish I had the patience or skills to do something like that.

    #3737140
    Mike B
    BPL Member

    @highwarlok

    Locale: Colorado

    Looks great.

    #3737871
    Chris L
    BPL Member

    @thechrislundy

    Locale: Idaho

    Thanks everyone for the comments. This stuff is so addictive! The perfectionist in me is already dreaming of the next version…

    #3737875
    Eric Blanche
    BPL Member

    @eblanche

    Locale: Northeast US

    Nice work!  I will be checking back on this thread!

    Care to elaborate or able to show more detailed pics/explanation of the waistbelt/frame attachment? Thanks!

    #3737876
    Chris L
    BPL Member

    @thechrislundy

    Locale: Idaho

    There are more photos in the imgur album: https://imgur.com/a/g59wDHx. For example, this photo:

    I somewhat shamelessly copied SWD Big Wild’s design. The webbing that attaches to the hip belt is sewn into the bottom seam, which is a subtle difference to SWD’s design. The webbing is stitched multiple times into a seam with 3 layers of EPLX400 and one layer of Robic 420 and 1/2″ allowance. I did some testing, and I’m not worried in the least about this webbing pulling out of the seam.

    In hindsight, I should have reinforced the bottom of the stay sleeve – I could see the stay eventually wearing a hole in that area. Wouldn’t be too hard to reinforce after the fact if I start to see some wear in this area.

    I mentioned this in another post, but after a fair bit of experimentation, what’s worked best for me is having the hip belt attachment point at the vertical midpoint of the belt, with a 10″ spacing. But I fully understand there’s some personal preferences and anatomical differences that play a role, and I definitely haven’t put a ton of miles on this design. I have put a ton of miles on a Seek Outside pack, and some of this opinion is based on (and applicable to) that design.

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