Pack Straps

I have far more packs than I can reasonably justify owning, but I must honestly say that this one is amongst the best. It weighs just 11 oz and I can do a 4 day backpacking trip out of it. The framesheet is the perfect density of HDPE so that it is thin and light but still stiff enough to carry a fairly large load well. Overall, this pack does what it does better than any comparable pack I've ever seen.

All of that praise notwithstanding, this pack was designed with one major flaw. The straps are extremely thin and cut into the shoulders with almost any amount of weight in the pack. I usually just stuff my extra socks/mittens under my shirt to pad it out, but I decided it was time to take my improvement to the next level.

I decided to add some padding to the straps. For the padding I used 1/8" closed cell foam and cut out the shape I wanted the straps to be.

  I doubled up the foam to make a 1/4" sheet and then sewed the pad between two layers of nylon.

I then cut out the pad and singed the edges to keep them from fraying.

Finally, I sewed the pads under the existing straps.

Here's the result. The day after I finished this modification, I got to field test the pack. I had an alpine rack, harness and a full days of layers, food and water and after a tough 12 miles, my shoulders were NOT where I was sore.