> I once saw a simple daypack made by Calvin Klein, sellling for $300

Cost in bulk at factory: $4 (I can substantiate this)
Cost after Shipping to USA: $4.50
Add marketing cost for Calvin Klein: $100
After shipping to retailer: $105
After retail mark-up in fashion shop: $300

Simple maths.

Cheers

>Would like to see your gear list. And what are those shoes atop the pack?

The aqua sox shoes were for wading at the lake, I wasn't going to be wading out in my off season North Face 104 GTX shoes... with the goretex they would of never dried.

I'm not going to be home tonight to give all the weights, but I can assemble the list and add the weights later.


Sleeping/Pack/Shelter:
Golite Ion type pack 9.4oz
Flexair plus pillow 0.85oz
Original Tarptent-for-2 26.05oz
Golite Ultra20 Quilt 19.3oz
Sea To Summit 8L Dry sack 1.2oz (holds quilt and all spare non w/p clothing)
NeoAir 9.1

Clothing Carried:
Exoffico Boxers
Socks 2.0oz
Beanie 1.2oz
liner gloves 1.35oz
686 Polypro pant
686 Polypro top
Minima Vest 4.9oz
Rain Pants 13.85oz
Rain jacket 13.95oz

Mess Kit:
Evernew pot 1L+
Coleman F1 UL stove 2.65oz
Windscreen/reflector 0.3oz
Snowpeak small cannister
mini bic 0.45oz
rag 0.4oz
Freezerbag cozy 0.35oz x2
Ti Spork 0.55oz x2


Essentials bag:
Epipen 2.15oz
pills 0.45oz
matches+bandaids + tape 2.1oz
compass 1.0oz
petzl e+lite 1.0oz
fire starter 0.35
Sportslick 1.0oz
mini swiss army knife 0.9oz
Micropur ClO2 tablets
sunscreen (empty) 0.2oz
handsanitizer (empty) 0.2oz
donner's soap (empty) 0.2oz
REI Wrap bandage
Sea to Summit 2L dry sack 0.85oz

Other stuff:
2L Platy bladder 1.3oz
1L platy bladder 0.8oz
1L platy bladder 0.8oz
play hydration hose 2.2oz
Ursack 8.0oz
Olympus 1050 SW camera 5.95oz
camera case/clip 1.15oz
stick pic 0.35oz
thermometer 0.2oz
nitelite clip #1 0.15oz x3
Washington Trails Map and w/p cover

Fishing Gear:
Aqua socks
fly pole/line/reel 9.0oz
Fly box and flys
dry fly dressing
mini pliers

Major Consumables: (I was carrying food for 2 people other than day one snacks for Heather)
2L of H2O
2 lipton Knorr rice dishes w/ 1/2cup dried turkey
2 1cup oatmeal dishes w/dried raspberries and strawberries
9 cliff bars at start of trip
3 flies...

That is about everything that was attached or in the pack. The majority of the weights I took off of a previous gear list that is posted on my blog, won't have access to my scale till tomorrow at the earliest. I wasn't carrying my solo mess kit, which weighs 4.5oz, I'm presently making a solo tarp and bivy to get the shelter down to the 16oz range. The rain gear is presently on the chopping block, but money is preventing replacement. I'd really like a marmot essence for a jacket, but will more than likely take a stab at the mountain poncho that BPL did an article on and get a ULA rain wrap for 3 season use to suffice for this summer.

Edited by rooinater on 06/14/2009 21:37:11 MDT.

So did you have to take the entire Ion's seams apart to sew on the lycra & rolltop & buckles or was it possible to sew without taking the majority of the Ion apart? (Aside from the lid of course)

Yes, I removed the seams on the lid and the side seams to about a 1/4" away from the bottom of the shoulder straps. It's really easy to sew, there's more pics if you follow my blog link from the first page. With the pack open I stitched the stretch mesh to the pack within the seam allowance, With the pack inside out I lined up all the seams and stitched it together similar to the way the factory did.

quick question, what lycra mesh did you use? From who?

-Tim

Jared,

What brand and model of sewing machine do you use? I took my Ion apart like you did and have not been able to sew it back together as it seems my sewing machine doesn't have the strength to push the needle through the fabric. It is fine for thin fabrics, but once there is any substantial thickness, it fails.

Zach what size needle are you using? When I made my dyneema ripstop pack, I had problems until I used a jeans needle I had.

I've been using a 16 needle. I have some 18s, but didn't know if that would make a difference. The problem might lie in the machine itself--it is a Kenmore and is not a commercial model (my wife uses it to alter her clothes). It jams pretty consistently on gear and I have to force the needle through with the hand wheel. I've heard that you really need a commercial model for the power to push the needle through multiple layers of backpacking fabric?

My Ion look so sad all exploded.

Jared,

Still wondering on the mesh.

-Tim

I know this sounds totally assinine bit if you're having problems with getting through all the layers try some bee's wax.

billy

Tim
I assume it is the lycra micro mesh from quest but you probably want to wait for confirmation on that. Are you doing a ion mod/clone for Hunter?
Good luck, hope to see pictures.

that was my guess too, but i wanted to be sure. I have some of that quest stuff on the way for testing.

-Tim

I was bored yesterday so I decided to work on my Ion. Just finished it up today. I just did the Lycra and stretch cord.

Edited by Berner9 on 09/01/2009 17:19:13 MDT.

Andy,

You did a fine job on your Ion!

All of you MYOG experts are killing me! I finally bought a sewing machine.....ACK!!!!! Now I've done it.

This thread has got my creative juices flowing. I've been sewing for years, making clothes and I just got my Ion in the mail. I'm about to get crazy. =)

I too am curious about the mesh source. I just got some from Quest for my ion mod, but it seems heavy, thicker than the photos from Jared and Andy (by the way, very nice work on both packs).

The Quest product I got is Lycra Micro Mesh B (Item 1209). It is very nice material, just a bit heavier duty than I was hoping. I was hoping for a mesh more like that on my ULA Ohm, which is more mesh-like, stiffer, but thinner than the Micro Mesh B.

Any tips?

Thanks,

Eric

This is EXACTLY what GoLite needs to do. Are you listening, Coup??

I read that they are making luggage now. Oh brother.....

My beloved little Ion is sad and jealous, because it doesn't have stretchy mesh. :(

Sorry I haven't been on here very much. I've been salmon fishing, trout fishing and backpacking. I haven't been working on any projects lately. Private Messages or facebook will get to me faster.

The mesh I used was from quest
3.7oz lycra mesh.
http://www.questoutfitters.com/mesh_fabrics.htm#Mesh%20Fabrics
The mesh is a heavier version of lingerie lycra. it's not stiff, but it shouldn't be since it's stretchy and has about 2" of stretch in any direction. Since it's so stretchy you don't have to add excess material, you just cut them to dimension.

One suggestion I would make, and I think I annotated it in the blog is to make a stiff bottom to the mesh water bottle pockets. Kind of like what Golite did for the Jam2, One thing I've noticed is that if the bottom of the pack isn't filled and packed tightly the lycra can stretch and the 1L water bladders can hand a little lower than the bottom of the pack. If the pack is filled and packed tight at the it's never an issue or if I use larger water bottles. The cord on the front stretch panel prevents it from doing anything funky on the big pocket. A slight semi-circle piece of dyneema cut from the lid you remove should more than suffice, or put a flat bottom on them like the post above. I was trying to keep the water weight as low on the pack as possible though.

After 200+ miles on the pack I've only got one very small pin hole on the water bottle pocket after several bushwacks while fishing along some lakes, sections of overgrown PCT and along a couple streams. I figured it would of had a few more spots to repair by now with all the brush I've gone through... With all my solo gear and fishing gear I've taken the pack on a 5 day 75 mile section hike of the PCT. I still had room for a couple more days of food, and I packed a lot of food for those 5 days.

As for the sewing machine, the thicker spots I had some struggles with the machine, I just had to adjust the foot pressure settings and force some stuff through the machine. The machine is a Viking Husqvarna 500.

Edited by rooinater on 09/11/2009 12:16:21 MDT.

Just one more example of a modified ion: after a recent three day hike i decided i wanted just a bit more space, and also to try out some minimal but padded hipbelt wings. The backpanel, base and shoulder straps are from the ion, and hipbelt is made from excess dyneema from the ion. The body is made from some spare 1.9 oz coated nylon from thru-hiker i had lying around. The design borrows pretty heavily from the Five Yards to SUL article published by BPL, leaving a capacity of abut 1700 ci without using the extension collar.


Final weight: 9.5 ounces. Here are a few shots from a test run on a short day hike from earlier today.


.



today.

Edited by matt_f on 11/07/2009 12:43:20 MST.

Let me be the first to say how awesome that is. I really like you work on the hip belt.

My ion should be here Tuesday... can't wait to give it a whirl and figure out exactly what I want to do with it.

Edited by veriest1 on 11/07/2009 15:57:54 MST.