Introduction
Decades ago I read Ray Jardineās The PCT Hikers Handbook. One of my biggest āahaā moments was realizing that itās OK to modify the gear I own, and often a good idea. Since then, Iāve reworked backpacks, bottle caps, hats, headlamps, jackets, pods, ponchos, pots, recorders, shirts, shoes, shorts, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, spoons, stoves, stuff sacks, tents, thermometers, toothbrushes, umbrellas, and water filters ā almost everything I wear and carry. Today, modding your stuff is popular in the lightweight, UL, SUL, and XUL backpacking communities.
There are many good motives for altering equipment. Mostly we focus on reducing weight, fixing problems, or adding features.
Here are a few more reasons.
Simplicity
āEverything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.ā – Albert Einstein
If you donāt need it, remove it. If you canāt remove it, simplify it.
For every doodad you remove or simplify, thatās one fewer thing to snag on brush, or tangle in other gear, or get in the way while you are looking for something else, or chafe in sensitive spots, or whatever.
Iāve removed ice axe loops from new packs for decades and donāt miss them. Same with most compression straps. Iāve trimmed extra-long hip belts to fit me while wearing warm clothing. Less strappage flapping in the wind, getting dirty, etc.
If you arenāt going to add optional poles to your tent, cut off the loops and hooks. Ditch the tiny key ring and toothpick on your Swiss Army knife if you donāt need them. Many people value the simplicity of lightweight backpacking as much as carrying fewer grams.
Reliability
āSimplicity is prerequisite for reliability.ā – Edsger Dijkstra.
It canāt break if you didnāt bring it.
Why be disappointed when something fails in the wilderness, when you didnāt need it or want it in the first place? Youāll be especially sad if that useless tchotchke breaks something else as it fails. Remove it now, so it canāt malfunction later.
Cleanliness
āMan and other civilized animals are the only creatures that ever become dirty.ā – John Muir
If itās not there, it canāt get dirty.
Some people are proud of their dirty gear. Others see value in clean gear. If you remove that strap, it canāt get dirty, and it canāt get other things dirty.
Ownership
āOwnership is the most intimate relationship that one can have to objects.ā – Walter Benjamin
If you mod it, itās yours.
By modifying your gear, you put your mark on it. It looks different from everyone elseās. Youāve spent time and possibly money changing it. You could add a patch for your favorite sports team, national park, or environmental cause. You might add something light and whimsical to the peak of your shelter, so it stands out in a sea of grey and green silnylon. You could add your trail name or avatar to the back of your pack. But after your mod, you canāt hop onto the Internet and order another one just like it in 30 seconds. And now that itās yours, youāll take better care of it.
Education
“Anyone who keeps learning stays young.ā – Henry Ford
To mod it, you must learn how.
You shouldnāt begin making your own gear by sewing a hooded, baffled down jacket with zippered pockets and elastic closures. Itās much easier to start by removing sewn-on logos, since seam ripping is a critical sewing skill. Simpler tasks build abilities and confidence for more complex projects.
Letās say a bear ripped an unwanted four-foot opening in your tarp, three days from the nearest trailhead, and the rain hasnāt stopped. You have two feet of repair tape, a needle, and some dental floss. Luckily, you learned some sewing skills while adding a beak to that tarp, so you stay calm and fix the problem.
Ā
Beauty
āIf pure gold were liquid and could raise a cream, that golden cream might be like the color of the poppies.ā – John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
If itās ugly, remove it or change it. If it makes you happy, add it.
I donāt want to be a walking billboard, so I remove logos and tags whenever feasible. Iāve even used a permanent marker to blot out branding. The lookĀ of diagonal compression straps on one backpack bugged me for years, until I figured outĀ how to replace them with one better looking and slightly more functional binding. You could draw a grinning sun or a bunch of flowers on your pack or shelter ā if that makes you or other trail users smile.
Conclusion
This isnāt about making long lists of favorite gear mods, or the wisdom of any particular change. Itās just a reminder that we can alter equipment for many reasons besides adding features, fixing problems, or dropping weight.
What are some of your uncommon motives for modifying gear?
Discussion
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There are many good motives for altering equipment. Mostly we focus on reducing weight, fixing problems, or adding features. Here are a few more reasons.
More Reasons to Modify Gear, by Rex Sanders
“It canāt break if you didnāt bring it.” reminded me of how, in the 1980’s, we couldn’t keep these damn things in stock at the backpacking store:
Partly because none of us staff could imagine wanting one when you could just lift your free-standing Jansport tent over your head and shake all the crumbs out.
Remember when mini Maglites were one of the more capable, certainly one of the most waterproof options we had? Ā One of my LXGFs taught me to swap the heads and bodies, so as to have a bi- or tri-colored (with the end cap) unit that no one else could mistake for there’s.
I remember my mini-Maglite with elastic headband strap well.Ā I can’t remember the model of my first actual headlamp, but it was mind blowing…A swivel feature for reading?!Ā What!?
Iāve seen an āultimateā gear list with an Uberlight wide Ā pad cut somewhat short (the theory being getting the lightest wide pad, as in who really sleeps well on a regular width pad?) and then backed up by a GG thin pad. Ā Besides doing the cutting, pretty sure the warranty will be nullified and Thermarest has a sweet warranty so far.
We take one of those small brushes winter camping, handy for sweeping out any stray snow that makes its way from the vestibule into the inner sanctum.
I recall reading in one of Jardine’s books that he and his wife removed every unneeded strap,Ā logo, lining, tape, etc. from a commercial backpack.Ā They saved about an ounce.Ā They then decided to make their own backpacks.
Yeah, RayJ was kind of fanatically about the brand logos – not wanting to advertise for others, plus the weight, and (I think I’m remembering this right) upset about needle holes through the waterproofing. Ā It seemed to have kept him up at night.
Funny 2 me…not wanting to advertise for a company…after investing in them, putting your trust in their product. In my brain thats a disconnect.
Hey David what’s an LXGF??
Shortening hipbelt straps has been my main mod.
Anyone know the logic as to why removing the tag from a sleeping bag [cept 4 by the owner] is a federal crime w serious penalty?
I have several mini maglites that were tchotchkes from some business
I think maybe I gave all of them a new home at the Goodwill
Do not remove those ādo-not-removeā tags
https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2010/05/do-not-remove-those-do-not-remove-tags/index.htm
Not sure if sleeping bag / quilt makers have the same policy.
— Rex
Perhaps it isnāt an issue in this forum but, the moment I saw the line above, early in the article, I thought, āBut have enough experience to know you wonāt need it.āĀ I have removed those items I didnāt need from that expensive piece of gear only to discover too late when and why i would need them. Better to carry it awhile, understand it, and then mod it.
Good point Mark.
“Do not remove those ādo-not-removeā tags”
I’m not sure that would hold up in court, regardless of what a mattress company might say without being challenged.
These are all good comments, but no one answered Rex’s question at the end of the article, “What are your uncommon reasons for modifying gear?”
I hope it’s not uncommon, but I think he left out a major one: It’s fun! It may not always be fun while you’re doing it, but (unless it’s a total disaster, which is very rare) there’s tremendous satisfaction in seeing the results. And once you develop some skills, most of the “doing” is fun, too.
Thanks everyone for the reminder to try things.
I just got an end-of-the-season Mtn. Hardwear Ghost Whisperer jacket at a SICK price!Ā The only problem is that the arms are clownishly long or mine are clownishly short.Ā Either way, I’m going to take the leap and shorten the sleeves myself!Ā I may even add a contrasting color for the cuff elastic.Ā Now the jacket will be an original and one I will appreciate all the more.Ā From lemons to lemonade.
Modding and repairing may not be the same, but they definitely use a lot of the same skills. And learning those skills has helped me acquire really nice gear economically (especially clothing), as folks get rid of stuff that’s damaged but easily fixable on eBay or craigslist. For example, I picked up a First Ascent down vest for $11 because it had a one-inch tear on the inside that I hand-sewed, and a down hoodie, which lists at over $200, was $14 because of an easily-fixable issue with one of the arm baffles. I’m more likely to experiment with modifications on this stuff than on an item I paid full price for, and less worried about damaging it in the field.
I used to do more modding than I do now, and I think it’s because there are so many more gear choices now. It takes way more research to make a decision, which can be formidable when there are (for example) a 100+ different backpacks in your size and capacity range, but nowadays a buyer has a pretty good chance of finding exactly what they want.
It’s quite a bit different from the days when you’d go to REI, or EMS, or the local Mom&Pop outdoor store and make the best out of what you found.
Yeah, I call modding my backpacking gear my “Magnificent Obsession” (after the title of the 50s movie). And I’ve shown photos of some of them here over the years.
So… I’m now planning mods for my NotchLi – and it hasn’t even arrived yet! Is there a 12 Step program for this obsession?
Usually my mods involving adding something but in the case of my Osprey EXOS 58 it was cutting off the “hiking pole carrier loops” and the spare top flap.
I’ve done this to one or two things, but I’m generally pretty hesitant to do so.Ā My mindset for store bought items, especially costly ones, is to never change it from the original configuration.Ā As soon as you make one minor change, generally you have voided the warranty and reduced the resale value by a very large amount.Ā Would you pay the same price for a piece of used gear that some stranger ‘made better’ by taking scissors or a seam ripper to?
Now I would much prefer just making my own thing from scratch rather than modding something commercial.Ā That being said, you have to start somewhere in being able to do that!
Craig, I have sold several items I’ve modified and never lost any money due to those mods, which I listed in my ads. In fact two buyers liked the mods.
I only ever modify something if it isnāt working right, or itās causing a problem, including excess weight to carry. I actually hate sewing or fixing or fiddling, and it takes up a lot of time so I avoid if at all possible, favoring other pastimes. I avoid the Make your own gear forum 99% of the time, although I enjoy seeing what others have made. But sometimes you just have to change something, so I do.
It isnāt that I donāt like working with my hands, because I enjoy gardening, cooking and baking, canning, cutting fish and meat for the freezer. Maybe itās because I hated my junior high sewing teacher and as a girl, wasnāt permitted to take shop (1970s), so I canāt use tools. Ā But I hate fiddling with gear. I did enjoy making tin can stoves with my son when he was younger. But then I hated how long they took to cook something, especially in strong wind, so they got recycled. We made a solar oven once too, but too bulky to take backpacking. It did a nice job toasting marshmallows though!
I donāt care a whit about brand labels, neither pro nor con. Those stay put. I add my name and phone number to all my outdoor gear, because I frequently lend it or camp in groups and I want it back again. I do remove long straps but only after enduring them for a while just to be certain I donāt need it.
So I guess I donāt modify much stuff other than simple repairs, Ā but I do appreciate all the tips Iāve learned here to repair things in the field using creative solutions. Havenāt used any yet!
I guess my modding more often takes the form of “improving” a piece of gear.
EX-> Camelbak 35 L. hunting rucksack. ADDED 2 vertical 1″ wide aluminum stays bolted thru the flimsy “frame sheet” ADDED REI padded hip belt after cutting off useless cloth waist belt. Now I can carry loads of up to 45 lbs. mainly on my hips with the load transfer mods of the frame and hip belt.
EX-> CHANGED Tarptent crossing poles from over the fly to under the fly in Moment DW and Scarp 2. Gives much more fly support in heavy winds and snow loads.Ā
Obviously these mods require a bit of faith that my ideas will work. So far, so good.
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