MR Pop Up-Inspired Lumbar Pack (Build-Along)

[4090Sharps]

Here's the packed "frame" (minus the couple D rings noted above)

 

[4090Sharps]

I finished up the back part of the panel and tested everything out with a 40lb bag of salt.... I think this may actually work out.


Checking out how everything will come together with a load here.


Ready for a load.


Salt bag loaded up.


Here you can see I installed a second female buckle for the cord buckle to the top of the frame. It's used to secure bulky layers and such at the top of the lumbar pack, but can also help secure/stabilize the load left in the bag when in pack mode. I tucked my kill kit bag under the exterior shock cord for purposed of demonstration.



I carried the loaded pack around the house for a bit using the backwards and not fully tightened Kifaru belt, with one hand over my shoulder to stabilize the top of the frame (lacking any shoulder straps, load lifters, etc.) and nothing collapsed or failed. I'm really curious to see how comfort and sag is with a properly fitted belt and shoulder straps.

At this point, I think it's safe to say this proof of concept is going to be a success. I can work through minor execution and design issues in the subsequent iterations that are almost certain to follow.





Here's the full frame package, poles and all, using the existing cord to secure the package. Heavier than I wanted at 10.4 oz, but I can work on that.

 

[4090Sharps]

I took my K4 belt off it’s frame to use as a pattern for a 1/4” foam belt and realized it has the same Velcro orientation as my pack—I could have used it as a stand in the entire time.

If it wasn’t so overbuilt for my purposes, I’d probably just swap it in, given how comfortable I find it.

 

[doncarpenter]

Seriously impressed with how fast this is coming together.

I'm curious to see how or if you're going to articulate the frame panel with the shoulder harness/yoke.

Sent from my SM-S911U using Tapatalk

 

[4090Sharps]

Seriously impressed with how fast this is coming together.

I'm curious to see how or if you're going to articulate the frame panel with the shoulder harness/yoke.

Sent from my SM-S911U using Tapatalk

Thanks, at 3 weeks in, I feel like it's taking FOREVER.

The shoulder harness will look like this, and I'll simply reroute the webbing connecting the harness to the pack through loops in the frame. It won't be pretty, but hopefully will get the job done well enough.



Something like the lefthand side here. Half inch webbing (lavender in the awful drawing) routed up through the red sections of webbing attached to the frame.



Like a very Spartan version of Kifaru does with the Duplex Lite shoulder harness retention.

 

[4090Sharps]

The belt is done. I used some Spandura I dyed on the stovetop. Ran out of the good batch so I'm down to the ugly batch.

The cord hip stabilizers are working out better than I had thought after I got the bag together, but I made the belt at least 1" too long. Oh well, this is just the first iteration.

I think the squadron fabric is on with the "wrong" face showing, but I liked the look better.



You'll see here the outline of a backing strip where the shoulder harness will connect.


I tried using this hybrid UHMPWE webbing for the belt. It slips a little. That's annoying, since it did well in testing, but I think I was using different ladder locks than the ones I grabbed this time....







Black stitching on brown fabric is really hard to get to come out nicely, but I figured why change things up this far in the game.

 

[4090Sharps]

These could be fun bounds to work within for a small lumbar pack.

 

[WoodBow]

Looking great. One big perk i have found of a pack like this, over a traditional lumbar only pack, is debris doesn't get funnel down your but crack. With a fanny pack, anything that rolls down your back gets funneled right in. Especially cedar.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

 

[4090Sharps]

I tried using this hybrid UHMPWE webbing for the belt. It slips a little. That's annoying, since it did well in testing, but I think I was using different ladder locks than the ones I grabbed this time....

Turns out I'm just an idiot and had sewn the ladder locks in backwards... I cut the plastic, removed them, and filed slots into the bar of a new pair of ladder locks, and now they're in place.

I have some free time tomorrow and will start on the shoulder straps.

The right side will have two pockets, similar to the Mountainsmith EVO strapette--outermost for a rangefinder and taller inner for my phone.

The lefthand side will hold my pocket binoculars. At the moment I am leaning heavily toward sewing in the single column Squadron strip. Then making a magnetic closure pouch to attach to it.

My first inclination was to make the top of the pouch flip forward like a Marsupial pouch. Thinking about it more, it might make more sense to have the magnetic top flap flip up and back, normally, and sew a magnet into the shoulder strap to hold it open.