Another motivation is that no matter whether I’m off on a Sunday afternoon walk, a five day hunt scout or a 2 week long canoe trip, there are certain items that I always want to have with me. Sweater, rain jacket, ground sheet, gloves, toque, spare socks, sun glasses, first aid kit, stove and pot, head lamp, TP and hand sanitizer, fire starting stuff, snacks, etc. The other stuff is what tends to change, or stuff that is superfluous if out for just a day. Amount of food, amount of insulation, hammock or a winter tent, etc.
I have tried a few approaches to this requirement – the Kifaru E&E, and I made the EscapePod™. Both were a bit too small for my needs. I had looked at the approach of Hill People Gear - one smallish pack on the outside to hold all those usual things, a pack bag for the changeable items, that is then lashed on to a frame. I like their stuff okay, but I wasn’t so keen on the zipper down the centre, and thought a panel loader would be better for my intended purposes. And, I just wanted to make my own, add my own little tweaks, etc. Good idea, but I’ll take it off in my own direction.
I knew my Kifaru PackFrame was going to be a component of this whole thing. I decided that I wanted this pack to be very integrate-able with it.
The 4 horizontal and 4 vertical straps are to hold straps in place that I use to lash it to the KifaruFrame. I could have not put them on, but it helps prevent them slipping off.
Since this will spend a good deal of time on my kayak’s deck, I wanted it to serve as a large tray, to prevent anything from falling out. Hence the zipper was at the front rather than at the back. The panel allows me to open it a lot or a little.
Oh and I took the lazy way out and used the padded Kifaru E&E straps that I got and never used for their intended purpose.
The mesh section also serves as a sleeve that the Kifaru CargoChair fits into. One, it helps act as a frame sheet of sorts, helps to give the pack some form and rigidity. Two, I can take it out and use it as a padded seat to place my delicate derrierre on. Third, it can attach directly to the Kifaru PackFrame.
The 2 ½" webbing running down the middle is so that I can attach stuff to them. Given it’s meant to be mounted on a rocking, possibly windswept kayak deck, I wanted to make sure there was a way to firmly attach stuff sacks, pouches, etc. so they couldn’t fall out or be blown out.
I decided to use some lighter nylon material that I had laying around - about 200 denier nylon I think, not certain. I used it mainly because it’s what I had, and wanted to get this project rolling. Not sure that it’s going to make that much of a difference as far as weight goes - a few grams maybe - the webbing and buckles certainly aren’t lighter - but it’s fun to play around with different fabrics. I doubled the fabric, but it is still pretty floppy. Had some doubts about it, but it survived the handling of me working it, and so far so good. Time will tell whether it is worth the effort, or if I wasted my time.
Oh, and the size of this is 45.75 cm (18") high, 30.5 cm (12") wide and 15.25 cm (6") deep.
Using a formula of circumference being width plus depth times 2, divided by π, divide that sum by 2, which equals the radius. Then to get the volume, take π, multiply that by radius squared times height. Which got me a volume of about 30 liters or about 1860 cubic inches. That size is about the equivalent of a Kifaru X-Ray, or a bit bigger than HPG’s Highlander. It’s a bit less than three times the size of my EscapePod™.
The other thing about this is that I can carry the pack by itself, or attached to the frame. On canoe trips we often head out to explore on foot and use it as an opportunity to also gather firewood. Lash it to the frame, re-attach the pack and carry it back to the canoe. Go off on a hunt, have all the essentials in case you need to stay out overnight in the YBDP, but be able to carry the deer back, lashed to the frame.
The issue of the straps will undergo some changes yet. At the moment it’s a little make do, but I’ll work out something better. One thing I’m thinking of making is a type of compression panel along the bottom, and press the pack against/into the frame. I’ve also become very enamoured of ITW’s G-Hooks, which will replace the National Molding Stealth Buckles I currently use.
So far, I’m happy with it. I suspect that I might tackle another one with some minor tweaks to it, some different material I suspect, maybe make the zipper a little longer, one or two other things, but all in all, it’s what I had envisioned. I will put it through its paces for a few months, actually try it on the kayak, and then I’ll see how far that iterative process actually needs to go. And the pack bag I plan to make may well play a factor in any changes to this pack as well.
Oh and wait for it, I sewed the whole thing by hand.
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