If not then it's been about a year and it couldn't have been a very good one to begin with otherwise I'd remember that I had posted it, but I digress.

I couldn't decide whether to post this in the MYOG or Multiple Use, but as it deals with modification of gear I thought why not put it in MYOG (and honestly I like the threads in MYOG anyways)...

So I had this cheapo Nylon Anarok that I was planning on bringing as a wind shirt and I was just looking at it thinking of what I could do with it and I closed the bottom of it completely and thought why not make it into a pack. I got really excited by this until I realized it would be completely useless as anything else if it were a pack, so I went back to the drawing board and was thinking of another essential that I could use as a pack.

So I plan on getting a Montbell Breeze at 6.3 oz, and I was looking for a comparably light backpack to start a sub 10 lbs pack weight. I've been lurking the forums here for well over a year and I've garnered so much inspiration here. I'm thinking if I could find a folding pattern and install back straps in the right place and some form of compression straps, I could eliminate the need for a backpack all together. This pack could then be as big or as small as needed, it would be waterproof and it would add no weight to my existing load (well besides straps and what not)...

Are there any arguments against my logic here, anyone ever try this?

you could make it like gearskins where the pack isn't a bag but just a front and back which sandwhiches the gear inside. You could make the pack back and front pieces then sew the bivy top fabric to it with a compression system that would allow you to clip the front to the back creating a pack. if you did a drawcord bivy you could pack you gear inside the bivy then fold it and cinch it down. All you save for weight is the sil bivy bottom and the pack sides, but you lose the functionality of side pockets and you add the weight of a much more complicated compression system. Not sure it is a big savings.

If it was me i'd make the bivy so the shoulder straps were under your feet not under your back as it wouldn't be so comfy.

-Tim

Thanks Tim, I spent about an hour looking and drooling at your Cuben quilt, the craftsmanship is amazing, but for the record I think the Skunk is a great name for it :P

Let me ask you, do you think compression straps could be feasibly used as shoulder straps for the pack system eliminating the need to sew anything, and possibly use a hipbelt as a horizontal compression system. I also have toyed with the notion of sewing a mesh pocket directly underneath the hood for drying, and on the sides as water bottle pockets. I can try the compression system I have in mind without any alteration so might as well give it a shot and see what comes of it.

sorry, i was thinking of a from scratch project. The modification aspect escaped me.

-Tim

what if you made the hood double as a lid and had the shoulder straps under your legs compression straps to hold the lower half when its folded up...
1. put supplys in the belly area of the bivy.
2. tuck foot box of bivy in to hood opening.
3. tighten compression straps(or buckles)to keep bottom folded up and stuff in place.
4. put on your loaded pack.

To get the bivy and start experimenting. Everyone here must have been a mad scientist in a past life.

Why not get a pack with roll top closure and add long extension collar to it. This will be much simpler and you will most likely end up with better backpack then myo.

Chuckle. Huzefa has hit it.
What is being described is actually a perfectly standard and relatively common big-wall alpine climbing sack.
They are often made with a very long throat to act as the bottom half of a bivy. A cagoule (bag-like poncho) goes over the top and you sit on your coiled-up rope on the Death Bivouac on the Eiger North Face, waiting (hoping) for dawn when you can start climbing again.

Cheers

The problem is, most light rucksacks are too small in diameter to allow a down insulation layer to loft inside them. Maybe one of the bigger Golite packs with some better side straps to adjust volume. Thing is, the weight difference between the pinnacle and the jam is greater than the weight of a bivy...

Edited by tallbloke on 06/12/2009 02:43:05 MDT.

Suitable fabrics for bivy are momentum, pertex, and 1.1oz ripstop. These are not suitable for making backpacks. using your pack as a half bivy can be done in emergency but for a backpacking trip you are better with breathble DWR bivy and durable backpack.

http://www.moonbowgear.com/1trailgear/1Custom%20packs/Gearskins/gearskin.html