Make your own rucksac...

[andrewa]

I've made a few rucksacks to date, but this is my latest

My requirements for a rucksack are that it is light, and suitable for bushwalking, packrafting and ski-touring. It needs an adjustable volume to accomodate the bulk of my gear on a 2-10 day trip (50-90l).

I've made it from some Dimension Polyant X pack fabric, and used Kathmandu shoulder straps and hip belts, which you can buy easily. Whilst I've previously made my own shoulder straps and hip belts, they are time consuming to make, and to buy "ready made" is worth it for me. I have designed the harness system around them, but it is based on a Mountain Designs system.
Vertical aluminium stays, with a cross stay across the top of the rucksack. Instead of using the industry std 19mm aluminium, I've used 16mm verticals, and 19mm across the top. Harness adjustment is about 10cm. The lumbar pad is home made with some mesh foam from "Thru Hiker". Sides of rucksack are designed to fit 4 piece paddles in the 2 larger pockets, or skis through the side straps. Smaller pockets within the side pockets hold bits and pieces that would otherwise fit in a top pocket. Back of rucksac has loops for the x style shock cord attachments if needed, and 4 ladderlocks for attaching pack to packraft. Roll top closure at top.

Whilst you could easily seal these seams quite easily to make it w'proof, I would rather use a lightweight pack liner.

[hikingoz]

That backpack looks very nice mate. Are those zips on the sides for main compartment access or seperate compartments? Like the color also. Fire engine red. Nice stuff!

[Nuts]

nice job, well done

[Moondog55]

Really nicely put together.
i like your workmanship.

[icemancometh]

how much does it weigh?

[andrewa]

A delayed response............

Icemancometh..........the rucksack with roll top weighs 1.1 kg

I have just made a top pocket for this pack, which is why I have reactivated this thread.

The original roll top pack was perfect for my packrafting/fly-fishing trip to NZ in January, but I now need a pack for ski-touring. In order to store skins, etc, I figured that a top pocket was the easiest way to do this, so I have added one, as per photos below. It is easily removable if needed.

Also, as I will need to carry my skis on my pack, I was worried about the ski edges cutting the nylon, so have added a removable nylon patch up the side of the pack to stop the sides wearing through, and also used black cordura on the side of the top pocket.

Total weight of pack, with top pocket 1.4kg - miles less than a commercial equivalent.
Volume would be about 80l .
Andrew A

[Strider]

Total weight of pack, with top pocket 1.4kg - miles less than a commercial equivalent.

My Golite Quest weighs 1410g (72L).

[clarence]

Here is my creation that I made a few years back.

Made from 8oz canvas, with front zip pocket.

The main straps are sewn in daisy chain style to level with the top of the pocket for attaching snow shovel etc (if required) with shockcord through the loops.

I played around with more complex harness designs, but found that they didn't necessarily offer much better comfort. I believe that most manufacturers are dictated to by what consumers think "looks" comfortable, and hence produce harnesses that look like an armchair. For some years I used a Summit Gear pack for work carrying huge loads, and the single layer ultra high density foams on those particular packs were so incredibly comfortable. I realised that all the padding seen on most packs is completely unnecessary. (By the way, of the four packs I own, the only one I haven't made myself is a Summit Gear. A very good fallback option if I ever feel too lazy to sew my own). I used a 70kg/cubic metre EVA foam 8mm thick for the waist belt (to the best of my memory).

Likewise. padding in front of the staves is not essential, unless there is a lot of bending over, where the spine may touch the staves. In that case one could incorporate a removable lower density pad for that area, as the Mountainsmith packs used to have. Again, I wanted to remove all the unnecessary extras and create a lightweight usable pack that wasn't too spartan.

I too used thinner alloy staves (12mm). What is the worst that can happen? A stave bends. Well, bend it back. No problem. The reality is that large packs like these are 75% full or better most of the time, creating a fairly solid structure anyway (provided they are packed well) making 25mm staves a bit of overkill.

The sternum strap was left off (and I've rarely missed it).

The pack has another 20cm height in the throat if the loads ever get huge (and the lid can be extended up accordingly).

I like at least two pockets on an all-purpose pack- one in the lid for the raincoat, and one on the front for lunch, sunscreen, mogadons and anything else I might need at short notice. I've tried various lid formats over the years and keep coming back to the style of the 1990 macpacs, with a variation on the internal lining. It fits well, is very easy to manufacture, and seems the most weathertight and storage-freindly. Unlike the old macpac lids, it has fewer seams (good for putting in a wet raincoat) and it can still be made to fit firmly over the top of the main compartment even if it is empty (hard to explain in writing, unless you know the old cascade, canyon, torre etc).

I would think it is around the 70L mark, with another 15L with the throat filled right up. The longest I've used it for is nine days between food drops and everything fitted beautifully with the throat extended up maybe a whisker for the first few days.

All up the weight is around the 1.75kg mark, but I'll have to double check that. The black does not photograph nearly as well as red like andrewa's (all my other packs are red- with some degree of fading).

It is great to see others like Andrewa and Samh making some innovative, functional and lightweight designs perfectly suited to their requirements. I won't feel so lonely late at night on the sewing machine next time I sew up a pack.

Clarence

[andrewa]

Just some feedback about my red rucksack, which , according to a search of this forum, seems to have been made 5 yrs ago! Time flies.

Design has been perfect for me, and it's still going strong, and as useable as the day it was made, although I've had to repair a hole in the bottom with tape. It has not needed any other repairs, and gets used for lugging big loads up Bogong in winter, and multiple trips to NZ.

Seems like "lighter weight" does not necessarily mean "wears out quickly".

Planning on making another identical one or two this year, so other family members can use one on trips.

A

[FootTrack]

Nice one, Andrew. Good to hear that it has held up the way you wanted it to. I'll have to get around to making something like this myself - I've always liked the look of yours.

Are there any changes/additions you would make next time round?

[FootTrack]

Also, I presume you used VX21 fabric?

[andrewa]

No recollection which fabric! It was one of those Dimension Polyant (?sp) fabrics though.

A

[JohnStrider]

@andrewa, that rucksack looks amazing.

I'd love to learn how to make something similar. Do you have instructions on how to make it or a list of materials lying about?

[andrewa]

I'm afraid it's a case of working from the pictures. Sorry. I spend a lot of time designing stuff in my head, and the only information I put on paper are the dimensions , and by the time I make it, I have worked out all the difficult moves in my head. I'm lucky enough to have that sort of brain.

A