Customising gone too far?

[nidarosa]

Some of you will know how I have struggled to find the right pack over the years, and many of you might be struggling with it now, feeling more and more stressed as your departure date comes ever nearer. You have my sympathies, I know all about it - I once bought my camino pack blind when it came out one week before the flight! (Pure dumb luck, absolutely not a recommended approach.) However, today I aim to make (some of) you smile at or with me.
I have an Osprey Tempest 30L which I love, not just because it is comfortable, lightweight and fits all my gear, but also because it is unapologetically pink! which brightens my day from morning to noisy night in the albergues. And it is small enough to go as hand luggage on a flight, unlike the above mentioned previously perfect pack. Buuuut it is a one size which doesn't necessarily fit all and is certainly made for smaller folk than I. It does have a hipbelt, but for the food loving peregrina the padded bits hardly touch the sides - literally. If it gets a little bit too heavy it starts putting weight on my shoulders, which are sore at the best of times because I type for a living. So I started looking for other packs. (You know all about that so I will skip the details.)
I also had to look for a different pack for my husband, whose larger size Talon 33L (yep, we had his and hers backpacks) is a little too short for him so he tends to keep his hands under it behind his back trying to lift it off the shoulders, making his damaged shoulder hurt even more. (If you do it too, your pack is not adjusted right or right for you!) I bought him the larger 44L with a rigid frame and so far, so good. I then went to list his black 33L for sale. I just thought I'd try it first, since it is basically a slightly larger version of my pink 30L, so I crammed it full of stuff ... and ooh, much better hip belt, I felt the difference straight away, and oh, look, swappable straps, what if I put the pink webbing straps on the black pack, as they were oddly longer (?) ... but the shoulder straps were too long and the pole stowing bungee ended up under my arm ... hmmm ...
Cue a flurry of straps in and out of buckles, a series of scratchy velcro noise, and hey presto - a black Talon 33 bag with a Tempest lady friendly harness and pink straps on the front! Winner!



Now the only thing missing was a name. Yes, your pack should be your best friend and therefore needs to have a name. They were previously known as Rosa (as in pink) and Fletcher (as in fletcha = arrow in Spanish), but I couldn't call it Retcher, nor Flosa, nor Talest, and definitely not Tempon!

In the end, since it is a Bit Of Both, I have called it Bob

Feel free to tell us about your customisations and/or silly pack names ...

 

[trecile]

My backpack doesn't have a name, but I did customize it a little bit by making a shell patch and attaching it.

 

[nidarosa]

Ooh I like your pack, it has pretty much all the features I like apart from the big mesh pocket on the back, which also stops me from stitching stuff like shells on anything but the hood. How did you make the shell patch? I have a pewter copy of an old pilgrim brooch found in a stream in the UK, and my husband laughs every time I attach a sole purpose metal object on my pack after having spent weeks shaving grammes off my kit ...

 

[trecile]

Ooh I like your pack, it has pretty much all the features I like apart from the big mesh pocket on the back, which also stops me from stitching stuff like shells on anything but the hood. How did you make the shell patch? I have a pewter copy of an old pilgrim brooch found in a stream in the UK, and my husband laughs every time I attach a sole purpose metal object on my pack after having spent weeks shaving grammes off my kit ...

I bought some fabric and bonded it to some iron on backing for stability. Then I sewed the lines for the shell, and zig zag stitch around the edges. I glued it on with some strong glue.
My pack was awesome for me. 36 liters and only 2 lb 4 oz. I had read about it, but couldn't find one in a store, so I took a leap of faith and ordered it online.

 

[nidarosa]

Good idea! I have been looking for a shell patch (to stop OH from laughing at my pewter one) and not really found one I liked. I shall try my hand at it when the sewing machine is out next, and the way things are going, that could be any day now!
Oh and well done on the leap of faith*! Feels like it is meant to be then, doesn't it?

(*I have to reiterate that it doesn't always work, so make sure you can return it for cheap or free if it doesn't fit ...)

 

[C clearly]

The customizing hasn't gone too far at all! Nice result!

 

[nidarosa]

I am rather pleased with self and am walking around the house with it on the flimsiest pretext - while waiting for kettle to boil, when I pop upstairs etc - and there is a real and present danger that I might be spending the evening on the sofa adding patches to the lid ...

 

[alaskadiver]

I love the pink accents and the homemade shell My pack is black with teal trim. You can see it in my profile pic. The pole straps on the side are also teal. So when I added the bungee cord to the back I chose teal. I'm still working the amount of tension that I want so I don't have a cord lock on the end. Now I just need to add my APOC patch and find an American flag small enough (and not iron on) to fit on the side.

 

[HeidiL]

I knitted a hip belt for the day pack I use for shorter walks at home.

 

[Waka]

Somehow I don't think there's a backpack out there that fits everyone's needs. My day pack that I use for short walks at home is an Ospray. One of the things that it has which my Camino pack doesn't have is the ability to put the poles in the loop at the bottom back and an elastic cord on the front of the shoulder strap. This allows you to easily put away and take out the poles without taking off the pack. My Lowe Alpine had now been modified to allow this.
Mind you I didn't do it in pink

 

[Eve Alexandra]

Well this is awesome! You've got me thinking about a name and some personalization thoughts for mine! I read somewhere that boots, packs, poles are less likely to be accidentally taken if you have weird shoelaces or something...

...hmmmmm...wheels turning now....

 

[nidarosa]

Haha, yes, as if we're not already spending too much time thinking about our clothes and kit and stages and flights and ... Best of luck finding your best friend's name and the perfect lace! (Tying them together also helps if someone takes the wrong ones in the dark, or even putting something inside them which the half asleep pilgrim isn't expecting.)

 

[Camino Chris]

Some of you will know how I have struggled to find the right pack over the years, and many of you might be struggling with it now, feeling more and more stressed as your departure date comes ever nearer. You have my sympathies, I know all about it - I once bought my camino pack blind when it came out one week before the flight! (Pure dumb luck, absolutely not a recommended approach.) However, today I aim to make (some of) you smile at or with me.
I have an Osprey Tempest 30L which I love, not just because it is comfortable, lightweight and fits all my gear, but also because it is unapologetically pink! which brightens my day from morning to noisy night in the albergues. And it is small enough to go as hand luggage on a flight, unlike the above mentioned previously perfect pack. Buuuut it is a one size which doesn't necessarily fit all and is certainly made for smaller folk than I. It does have a hipbelt, but for the food loving peregrina the padded bits hardly touch the sides - literally. If it gets a little bit too heavy it starts putting weight on my shoulders, which are sore at the best of times because I type for a living. So I started looking for other packs. (You know all about that so I will skip the details.)
I also had to look for a different pack for my husband, whose larger size Talon 33L (yep, we had his and hers backpacks) is a little too short for him so he tends to keep his hands under it behind his back trying to lift it off the shoulders, making his damaged shoulder hurt even more. (If you do it too, your pack is not adjusted right or right for you!) I bought him the larger 44L with a rigid frame and so far, so good. I then went to list his black 33L for sale. I just thought I'd try it first, since it is basically a slightly larger version of my pink 30L, so I crammed it full of stuff ... and ooh, much better hip belt, I felt the difference straight away, and oh, look, swappable straps, what if I put the pink webbing straps on the black pack, as they were oddly longer (?) ... but the shoulder straps were too long and the pole stowing bungee ended up under my arm ... hmmm ...
Cue a flurry of straps in and out of buckles, a series of scratchy velcro noise, and hey presto - a black Talon 33 bag with a Tempest lady friendly harness and pink straps on the front! Winner!

View attachment 31785

Now the only thing missing was a name. Yes, your pack should be your best friend and therefore needs to have a name. They were previously known as Rosa (as in pink) and Fletcher (as in fletcha = arrow in Spanish), but I couldn't call it Retcher, nor Flosa, nor Talest, and definitely not Tempon!

In the end, since it is a Bit Of Both, I have called it Bob

Feel free to tell us about your customisations and/or silly pack names ...

How creative you are! What a great "marrying" of parts you came up with to customize your needs. Your picture really made me smile. I had never considered giving my pack a name, but I'm going to put some thought into it and try to come up with a clever name for mine.

 

[Camino Chris]

My backpack doesn't have a name, but I did customize it a little bit by making a shell patch and attaching it.
View attachment 31789

Wow, what a coordinated color combination you have going...awesome!

 

[cher99840]

I love the pink accents and the homemade shell My pack is black with teal trim. You can see it in my profile pic. The pole straps on the side are also teal. So when I added the bungee cord to the back I chose teal. I'm still working the amount of tension that I want so I don't have a cord lock on the end. Now I just need to add my APOC patch and find an American flag small enough (and not iron on) to fit on the side.

View attachment 31790

When I walked in 2013 I was living in Alaska and wore an Alaskan Flag patch on my hat. Almost everyone knew what it was which surprised me. It also surprised me that while everyone seemed to recognize the Alaskan flag, only about half knew that Akaska is a state.

 

[alaskadiver]

When I walked in 2013 I was living in Alaska and wore an Alaskan Flag patch on my hat. Almost everyone knew what it was which surprised me. It also surprised me that while everyone seemed to recognize the Alaskan flag, only about half knew that Akaska is a state.

I'm surprised that anyone recognized the flag. I'm NOT surprised that half didn't know we're a state in the US.

 

[Eve Alexandra]

I keep thinking how Cheryl Strayed named her pack Monster in Wild.

 

[Ahhhs]

Mine is Trixie.

 

[nidarosa]

Haha, Monster was pretty fitting! My previously perfect pack - it's not just your feet that don't quite fit in your normal shoes after six weeks and beyond, but in my case the body shape too - was called Frances, obviously, since I walked the Francés with her, and Rosa was Rosa because she was pink. My husband has transferred his to the new pack, so now we are walking with Fletcha and ... Bob. Not very zingy and catchy, but I giggle every time I call it Bob. That's why things should have names or nicknames, as a reminder of something or little inside joke that makes you smile. My bigger pack for walking in mountains is always blue and always called Mette, after a now sadly departed lady who always dreamt of walking in the mountains. And I once walked with a young woman who had names for her shoes, because she loved them so much!

 

[movinmaggie]

Fellas, it's a girlie thing

 

[FamPed]

However, today I aim to make (some of) you smile at or with me.

I smile! Bigtime! A lovingly, recognizing. hartfelt smile! I like your modification, smart thinking and stylish! I do LOVE my pack! It´s a anonymous blue really cheap pack that i bought here in Sweden at a German foodchain (Lidl). (Is it ok to write the name of the store? Otherwise please let me know , I´m still a newbie trying to learn all things here...) The pack is lightwieght, sits perfect on my back, came with a intergrated raincover. The pack has an external frame with net closest to my back. I don´t know how many liters it is, but it´s a good size, I can take it as my carry-on hand luggage on planes. I have had it for a few years now, right now it stands beside my bed with a sleepingbag, equipment and some clothes. Have I modified my pack? Of course! I have som yellow rope on the front that I use to hang things from (raingear, laundry etc), and in front of the rope i have a pouch/bag made of net that I attached with carabindes (for snacks, my spork and a mug). Not the prettiest, but it´s practical. I haven´t really given my pack a name, but when I think about it I allways refer to it as Ryggan. Ryggan is short for the Swedish word Ryggsäck(-en), same as Pack instead of Backpack or Rug instead of Rugsack.

My backpack doesn't have a name, but I did customize it a little bit by making a shell patch and attaching it.
View attachment 31789

The Shell looks perfect, well done! Thank you so much for the idea, I have to try to make one for Ryggan.

 

[nidarosa]

Nice mods! It is never about how much a pack costs, but how it fits you and what you plan to use it for, and since no pack is ever going to be perfect all the time, some customising is a good idea. I just think that to many people the pack is such an investment that they don't like messing with it in case they break or ruin it. I have cut straps and bungees and decor off, sewn patches and straps and loops on and used and reused where I can to make things fit. Cutting the trekking pole holder off my Aura was a mistake, but not until I started using poles ... but then removing one of the ice axe bungees on the Talon/Tempests and turning it to make it easy to connect them and use as a coat hanger or clothes line, turned out to be brilliant.

 

[Swift3]

My backpack doesn't have a name, but I did customize it a little bit by making a shell patch and attaching it.
View attachment 31789

That looks like a great pack. I have been eyeing a Marmot that is new as of spring 2017,
a Graviton. Probably the 38L, or maybe the 48L (on our CP last spring, my daughter and I used new model Gregory Jade 53 and Zulu 55s that we both liked a lot, but were sort of heavy). The weight of only 2lb and 4 to 9 oz for the Marmot is VERY appealing, saving like 2 lbs.

Is the one you used a Graviton 36L? If so, how'd you like it? Fit? Zipper entry only? Not having a separate brain top pocket? Outside pocket features? Overall packability? Looks like a perfect Camino pack to me.

 

[FamPed]

It is never about how much a pack costs, but how it fits you and what you plan to use it for

I just think that to many people the pack is such an investment that they don't like messing with it in case they break or ruin it.

I totally agree with you, and that was my thinking when I saw this no brand pack in the foodstore. The world wouldn´t have stopped spinning if or when i brake my pack when I´m modifying it. I have had other sacks before (Haglöfs and Lundhags) and most suprisingly I like this one as much as them ( I did some mods to them too). Ryggan has been with me on many hikings and some longer pilgrimage here at home. So to you all out there, don´t be afraid of trying something out of the box. Next thing I´m going to adjust is to fix some sort of smaller lightweightpocket to my waiststraps on Ryggan and to glue and sew on a small swedish flag and a stylish homemade (if I can make one) shell as the one @trecile have made <3
I would like to hear and see more pictures of all modifications/alterings that you all have made.

 

[trecile]

That looks like a great pack. I have been eyeing a Marmot that is new as of spring 2017,
a Graviton. Probably the 38L, or maybe the 48L (on our CP last spring, my daughter and I used new model Gregory Jade 53 and Zulu 55s that we both liked a lot, but were sort of heavy). The weight of only 2lb and 4 to 9 oz for the Marmot is VERY appealing, saving like 2 lbs.

Is the one you used a Graviton 36L? If so, how'd you like it? Fit? Zipper entry only? Not having a separate brain top pocket? Outside pocket features? Overall packability? Looks like a perfect Camino pack to me.

Yes, mine is the Graviton 36. It was perfect for me. The way the zippers work you can open it all the way, or just the top, bottom or side. I don't know what a brain pocket is, but it does have a large pocket on top with an inner zippered compartment. REI is carrying this backpack in their stores now. This video shows its features.