Upcountry
Lil-Rokslider
I was one of the earlybirds to get on board with what Exo Mountain Gear was doing and picked up one of their 3500's from their first run back in 2014. I've had great luck with their system, although I've come across several things that I wasn't one hundred percent in favor or fond of. A few of these complaints have been remedied in their updates in the past few years, however I can't seem to bring myself to spend the $500 to jump in on a new setup. That combined with my endless tinkering, I decided to set out to create something that I think might be just what I'm looking for.
I came up with a streamlined roll top design, with plans of incorporating all of the factory Exo compression straps. To start with, I added some aluminum struts to the frame's back panel, as has been done on the newest K2 version. The final volume of this bag is somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 liters as shown in the pictures. The bag weighs 22oz exactly, including all attached hardware! Total pack weight including hip belt pouches and frame is an ounce shy of 5 pounds.
I recreated essentially the same XPac panel that Exo used to mount the bag to the frame. On the inside of this I sewed a large 3" velcro loop strip across the top of the bag, so that I can attach some small organizers inside the bag. I wanted to keep the pack narrow in width, as one of my biggest critiques of the 3500 bag was it's width(I'm a skinny guy) when you used the two long side pockets(which had horrible closures as well). The body of the bag is about 14" wide, 26" tall(36" unrolled), and 9" deep, with a flat bottom and slightly rounded corners. The entire rear facing outside panel features a layer of 500D Cordura, with a double layer of Spandura fabric over the top of it. This essentially creates one 12" wide by 24" tall stretchy pocket. One of the features I loved about the Exo bag was the rear stretch pocket, so I knew I wanted something similar. I also have recently taken up archery, and wanted a nice flat surface that I'd be able to strap my bow to. (accessory straps to accommodate this are in the works already) The roll top closure of my bag seals in anything you stuff in the stretch pocket. It's my intent to use this for my frequently used items throughout the day(extra layers, maps, sunglasses, gloves), similar to what you might use a lid for. The roll top closure features 12" long flexible plastic inserts inside the webbing around the perimeter of the opening. This gives some rigidity to make it easy to get a nice roll to close and also helps prop the mouth of the bag open when you're loading it. The roll is then held tight with an adjustable strap that can be moved up and down the length of the bag and attaches to any point on the daisy chain on the side. This daisy chain also allows the compression straps of the bag to be ran over or under. This will be great for keeping my tripod locked into one little "slot" on either side of the daisy chain.
I also used double layered Spandura to create some lower stash pockets, which are always handy for a tripod, or Nalgene. The bottom of the bag and lower 3" perimeter are all double layered in 500D Cordura. One of the design aspects I put a lot of thought into was the integration with the frame's compression straps. I can essentially move any of these buckles/webbing loops around to any of the sixteen attachment points I created into the body of the bag. There are two of these attachment loops on either sides of the bag, each corresponding to be level that compression strap. So the buckles shown attached to the rearmost seam, could also be moved to the seam nearest the frame panel for a truly large load. The black loop webbing retainers are all removable to allow you to adapt how and where the bag is compressing under tension. This is kind of demonstrated in the picture with the orange "meat bag" in the load shelf area.
I'm sure there are some things I forgot to explain, but...
Here's the finished product...
(I'll post some construction pics if requested)
CONTINUED BELOW...
I came up with a streamlined roll top design, with plans of incorporating all of the factory Exo compression straps. To start with, I added some aluminum struts to the frame's back panel, as has been done on the newest K2 version. The final volume of this bag is somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 liters as shown in the pictures. The bag weighs 22oz exactly, including all attached hardware! Total pack weight including hip belt pouches and frame is an ounce shy of 5 pounds.
I recreated essentially the same XPac panel that Exo used to mount the bag to the frame. On the inside of this I sewed a large 3" velcro loop strip across the top of the bag, so that I can attach some small organizers inside the bag. I wanted to keep the pack narrow in width, as one of my biggest critiques of the 3500 bag was it's width(I'm a skinny guy) when you used the two long side pockets(which had horrible closures as well). The body of the bag is about 14" wide, 26" tall(36" unrolled), and 9" deep, with a flat bottom and slightly rounded corners. The entire rear facing outside panel features a layer of 500D Cordura, with a double layer of Spandura fabric over the top of it. This essentially creates one 12" wide by 24" tall stretchy pocket. One of the features I loved about the Exo bag was the rear stretch pocket, so I knew I wanted something similar. I also have recently taken up archery, and wanted a nice flat surface that I'd be able to strap my bow to. (accessory straps to accommodate this are in the works already) The roll top closure of my bag seals in anything you stuff in the stretch pocket. It's my intent to use this for my frequently used items throughout the day(extra layers, maps, sunglasses, gloves), similar to what you might use a lid for. The roll top closure features 12" long flexible plastic inserts inside the webbing around the perimeter of the opening. This gives some rigidity to make it easy to get a nice roll to close and also helps prop the mouth of the bag open when you're loading it. The roll is then held tight with an adjustable strap that can be moved up and down the length of the bag and attaches to any point on the daisy chain on the side. This daisy chain also allows the compression straps of the bag to be ran over or under. This will be great for keeping my tripod locked into one little "slot" on either side of the daisy chain.
I also used double layered Spandura to create some lower stash pockets, which are always handy for a tripod, or Nalgene. The bottom of the bag and lower 3" perimeter are all double layered in 500D Cordura. One of the design aspects I put a lot of thought into was the integration with the frame's compression straps. I can essentially move any of these buckles/webbing loops around to any of the sixteen attachment points I created into the body of the bag. There are two of these attachment loops on either sides of the bag, each corresponding to be level that compression strap. So the buckles shown attached to the rearmost seam, could also be moved to the seam nearest the frame panel for a truly large load. The black loop webbing retainers are all removable to allow you to adapt how and where the bag is compressing under tension. This is kind of demonstrated in the picture with the orange "meat bag" in the load shelf area.
I'm sure there are some things I forgot to explain, but...
Here's the finished product...
(I'll post some construction pics if requested)
CONTINUED BELOW...
