Adding an aluminium stay to a frameless pack

[Tortoise]

After buying 2 new backpacks that don't work for me ( ), I'm looking at modifying my old GoLite Pinnacle. It's been a great large day pack, but hasn't worked even for an overnighter for me. In spite of careful packing and trying a bunch of things, I can't stop the foam back pad from sagging and bulging into my back in the wrong places.

I have 2 aluminium stays from a defunct pack that was very comfy. My more recent old pack only had one stay, in the centre of the back, which worked well. Sooooo, I'm considering trying to attach a stay to the centre of the back pad somehow. The pad sits very snugly in the back pad pocket, so any other fabric I add would need to be very thin.

I have some SILnylon - unnecessary in terms of waterproofing, but the slipperiness might help me get it back into its pocket. I wondered if I could make a 'pillowcase' type of thing, with an extra sleeve sown sewn onto that for the stay to go into.

I also wondered about trying to glue the stay onto the CCF back pad, to save space. But I'm not sure if that would work (I'd probably only have one chance to get it right), and I'm not sure what kind of glue to use.

Do either of these sound reasonable, or does anybody have any other ideas about how to do it?

Thanks for your thoughts.

Attachments

Last edited by Tortoise on Thu 06 Jan, 2022 3:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Lamont]

Glue wouldn't work I'm pretty sure. It would either rip, with the CCF under pressure,
or just 'pop off' the CCF I'd venture.
Maybe make your empty 'case', then mark out where you want the channel, then put the foam into the case, then stitch a tightish channel with the foam in the case, slide the bar in?
Love to know how it goes.
Stitch on Tortoise!
All the best

Last edited by Lamont on Mon 10 Jan, 2022 1:04 pm, edited 5 times in total.

[Moondog55]

My solution was to get some HDPE sheet [ ripped from a babies pusher on the side of the road so no cost] and cut that down to fit. Used in conjunction with an old CCF pad it works very well.
Sleeve was nylon just sewn into a rectangle.
A replacement for the Karripad in my old WE TourJour pack, works better than the aluminium stays in the original and a tad lighter.
Otherwise sewing a length of webbing to a nylon pad works, it forms a sleeve [ or two sleeves] I can send you a length of tubular sleeving if you PM me you mailing address as it's lighter than webbing, it is however 70mm wide
Also I have several spare stays here if you want me to put them into a tubular mailer, about $10- postage all up I think. These are WE stays and stiffer than flat bar

[Tortoise]

That is, make your empty 'case', then mark out where you want the channel, then put the foam into the case, then stitch a tightish channel with the foam in the case, slide the bar in. As long as your foam is under the 10mm thick most machines as long as you can get it all under the presser foot, will sew through-just go slow.
As long as the stitching is through the foam and both layers of fabric it should hold in place.

Love to know how it goes.
Stitch on Tortoise!
All the best

Thanks for the ideas and encouragement, Lamont. I don't have a good history of following through on gear projects, though.
I wasn't sure if stitching through the foam would make it less comfortable - or that I might damage the foam. I don't suppose there's any good reason for that. I'd go VERY slowly, and I think I might try a 'walking foot'. I'll test that on a scrap piece of CCF. With a long stitch.

Btw I used to be good at spelling, and couldn't figure out how people could get homophones mixed up. Now I'm won of them.

[Tortoise]

My solution was to get some HDPE sheet [ ripped from a babies pusher on the side of the road so no cost] and cut that down to fit. Used in conjunction with an old CCF pad it works very well.
Sleeve was nylon just sewn into a rectangle.
A replacement for the Karripad in my old WE TourJour pack, works better than the aluminium stays in the original and a tad lighter.
Otherwise sewing a length of webbing to a nylon pad works, it forms a sleeve [ or two sleeves] I can send you a length of tubular sleeving if you PM me you mailing address as it's lighter than webbing, it is however 70mm wide
Also I have several spare stays here if you want me to put them into a tubular mailer, about $10- postage all up I think. These are WE stays and stiffer than flat bar

Thanks, Moondog. I hadn't thought of HDPE sheet, largely because I didn't know what it was. In hindsight, my dying Berghaus pack has what's probably a sheet of HDPE plus the stay. But I'll see what I can pick up from the tip shop. What part of the pusher did you get the sheet from? Can you think of other things that would have an HDPE sheet? I'll check out other back packs as well, in case i can get one that used it.

Cheers

[Moondog55]

The pusher I got mine from had a small sheet under the bum with foam on top and the larger sheet was in the back just loose between two layers of cheap polyester fabric.
Some heavy duty shopping bags use a small piece in the base. It is available at retail by the sheet or cut to size but tip shop is better by far.

https://plasticwarehouse.com.au/product ... t-to-size/
OR
You could get a half a dozen milk bottles and iron them flat. Another possibility is to decide what shape you want, make a rough sand mould and use epoxy resin over fibreglass or coarse woven nylon
EDIT
Another thought as a quick fix and temporary solution is a section of Coreflute from Bunnings
https://www.bunnings.com.au/5mm-corflute-white_p0390162

[Lamont]

No worries. Don't forget your shoulder straps have masses of bar tacking lines on them-not an issue.
Should you have a crack-in my experience 'slippery' thread works best through fome.

[Tortoise]

No worries. Don't forget your shoulder straps have masses of bar tacking lines on them-not an issue.
Should you have a crack-in my experience 'slippery' thread works best through fome.

Good point! What kind of thread is 'slippery'? (fome = fear of missing epics? Eyelashes? Elbows? Equipment?)

[Lamont]

No worries. Don't forget your shoulder straps have masses of bar tacking lines on them-not an issue.
Should you have a crack-in my experience 'slippery' thread works best through fome.

Good point! What kind of thread is 'slippery'? (fome = fear of missing epics? Eyelashes? Elbows? Equipment?)

Everything.
I've only tried a couple, the stuff recommended me by Cecile (or was it MD?) Rasant sbould be OK.

Last edited by Lamont on Fri 07 Jan, 2022 5:28 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Tortoise]

EDIT
Another thought as a quick fix and temporary solution is a section of Coreflute from Bunnings
https://www.bunnings.com.au/5mm-corflute-white_p0390162

Sorry I missed your reply earlier, MD. Actually, I have some sheets in the garage scavenged from a real estate agent. Might be too thick to fit back into the sleeve the CCF goes into, but it's worth a look.