I'm in total turmoil! I keep going between wanting to make my own and being scared that not having a metal suspension of some kind will hurt my back and shoulders too much. My worry is that it is severely painful for me to have shoulder straps pulling at my neck and shoulder area and it gives me headaches and I've never been able to carry more than 5 lbs without pain. A hipbelt and load transfer system fixes this perfectly, but I'm not finding a lot of info for these things in a MYOG pack design. Does this exclude me from the joy of a Perfectly Personalized Pack? How many "extras" do I need to keep from having pain without it being too much work and weight? How would I add these things?

Daryl has developed a pack system that puts little if any weight on the shoulders.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=41365&skip_to_post=351393#351393

Enjoy,

Dave

Hi Joslyn,

MYOG packs are fun, satisfying and completely addictive.

Hopefully this may help you with some of the information that you need to make your decision to move forward or not.

Also keep in mind that the torso height measurement is critical in making a pack that carries comfortably. What works for me is adding just a little to the torso measurement so that the tops of my shoulder straps go straight or even upwards just a little bit with a fully loaded pack. The hip belt carries the load. The shoulder straps and sternum strap serve to keep the pack from falling over backwards.

My wife's pack has a hip belt, plastic frame sheet and tubular aluminum stay. My own pack is frameless and packed burrito style. Both styles of pack work with a hip belt but compression of the pack and how you load your pack is a little more critical in a frameless pack. Measure the volume of your gear that you intend to carry in your new pack before you start construction.

If you are considering using a curved aluminum hoop stay and bending tubing is not your thing Gossamer Gear sells a pre-made curved aluminum hoop stay. Either the tubular or solid hoop stay can be sewn into webbing pockets of the pack front (the panel with the shoulder straps) without the use of a plastic frame sheet. I apologize if you already knew where the pack front was but this always confused me. ;-)

Measure twice, sit back and think about it and then cut once. ;-)

Please keep us informed of your decision and progress?

Party On,

Newton

Edit: My embedded links are working a bit clumsily in a two step process for some unknown reason. If you click on "Proceed to this site" on the redirect page you will eventually get to the intended link. Sorry about the extra work!?! :-(

The links are fixed and working now. ;-)

Edited by Newton on 09/23/2011 14:18:10 MDT.

+1 for Sir Newton's comments.

I've made 2 packs with similar drop-in style plastic framesheets with alumnium tube stays. I think they work fantastically well and are very easy to design and construct (a rectangular sleeve on the inside back panel, plus some kind of flap over the top). Sorry I don't have any pictures handy but what I have done is very similar to Newton's setup, except I used tiny zip ties instead of a webbing sleeve to attach the stay (or stays) to the framesheet.

Check out cilogear packs (like the midsize worksacks), and look at the way they use a framesheet and stay like Newton's, plus a folded foam pad for cushioning (and multiple use as a sleeping pad), plus the "ninja pocket" as both a closure for the top of the framesheet pocket and a way to add a little internal organization. It's a neat little design, works well, easy to construct, plus you can change out the plastic sheet, stays and foam as needed until you find the combination that meets your goals for stiffness and light weight.

No need for turmoil! This will all work out just fine! :)

Edited by lettheguydance on 09/23/2011 11:45:01 MDT.

Thanks! Everyone's posts and pictures have got me really inspired to try some stuff out. I will for sure post anything I come up with!