Finished project: 32L hiking backpack
In my infinite wisdom I posted this to r/myog yesterday, just before the blackout started. I'm going to repost it here as a way to gauge how well it fits in on Tildes – this type of post is pretty central to the r/myog community and I am hoping some of us can migrate here.
Goldilocks Pack
In April of 2021, lo these many years ago, Reddit user savvlo posted in the r/myog Swap Thread that he was placing a wholesale order for Ecopak Ultra EPL200 and was wondering if anyone wanted a few yards. I had heard of this material and was eager to get my hands on some; none of the major UL pack manufacturers had started offering it yet and the only way to have an Ultra backpack was to build it yourself. I had the skills (4 or 5 packs already under my belt) and I aimed to be one of the first.
Well, so much for that. I fell out of love with MYOG for a year or so, and by then the project seemed so insurmountable that I didn't even know where to start. I did plenty of designing and redesigning (because that's the fun part) but the truth was that I just didn't really need another backpack, so there was no motivation to start a project that would consume dozens of hours. And then finally, this spring, my trusty old Hyperlite started showing its 4000+ miles and gave me the kick I needed to actually make this damn thing.
You can guess from the title that this pack fills a hole in my lineup – for years my two pack options were my 40L Windrider and my 27L summer pack, and most often I found myself wishing I had an in-between option in the 33L range. The MLD Burn fits right in that pocket and after seeing one in action on a high route trip with a friend I knew that was going to be my model. The overall dimensions of my pack match the Burn exactly; the main modifications I've made are to the pockets, straps, and components. The comments in the Imgur album go over the specifics.
| Specs | Imperial | Metric |
|---|---|---|
| Weight | 13.3 oz | 376 g |
| Internal Volume* | 2000 in^3 | 32 L |
| Width | 10 in | 254 mm |
| Depth | 6 in | 152 mm |
| Height | 29 in | 737 mm |
| Torso | 19 in | 483 mm |
*this is just my best guess, I don't have a good way to measure volume
Thoughts
I'm from the Midwest and I hate tooting my own horn so you'll know I speak truth when I say that this is, undoubtedly, my finest work. Other than a few trivial mistakes everything pretty much fell together perfectly. This is not normally the case with my projects and naturally it makes me quite nervous.
The one thing I can't get over is this fabric! I can't believe this stuff only weighs in at 3.5 osy. It feels so much tougher than the Hybrid DCF I'm used to working with; it's so hard to cut through even with my sharp sewing scissors. Only time will tell if this pack really is as tough as it feels, but my hopes are sky high. Thanks for reading and looking at my pictures!
I haven't heard of myog before, and this seems super interesting. Coming from someone new to this space, it looks like a lot of planning and effort was put into your pack. It looks well made. Would you have any recommended resources for getting started?
r/myog is probably the best place, if it ever opens back up again. There's also an active myog community on the Backpacking Light Forum but you have to pay for a membership to post.
And you're right that planning is everything with a project like this, especially when the fabric costs $40 per yard. I made a full set of construction paper patterns for this project before cutting anything and I also tested some of my planned construction methods on smaller pieces of material. It really pays off when all your pieces fit together perfectly and there's no unexpected misalignments.
Another resource that people love are the patterns and instructions from https://learnmyog.com/. I haven’t had a chance to try any of his stuff myself, but I’ve watched most of his YouTube videos and they are excellent!
I’m hoping to get into making my own stuff, but I got a little sidetracked by accidentally turning industrial sewing machine repair into a hobby
It's Ecopak Ultra 200 by a company called Challenge Sailcloth. It's a 200-denier woven UHMWPE (aka Spectra or Dyneema) with a plastic film laminated to the back to make it waterproof. So it's got a much higher UHMWPE content by weight than DCF and consequently is much stronger and more abrasion resistant.
I didn't keep track of the total cost but if I had to ballpark it I'd say somewhere in the $250-300 range all told. It's almost never cheaper (at least on a one-off basis) to make your own stuff because of all the extra money you have to spend on components, small cuts of fabric, and tools. I tend to think of it more as its own hobby, complementary to backpacking. I hike occasionally and sew in the meantime.
This is fantastic! You've given me so many ideas to use in my own pack.
Looks good, the one thing I would have added is sew some patch velcro onto the back and front so I could add velcro reflectors if I was going to be hiking alongside the road, especially during dusk/dawn since the pack is so dark.
Looks like really nice work! I'm interested in how you pack the 27L and what the 32L is making room for.