Custom SAR pack project: suspension / back panel

For those of you who are just joining us, I've been working on a custom backpack for search and rescue work. Previous posts have detailed the process I used for the packbag, shoulder straps, and plastic framesheet. Here I will discuss the suspension.

Apologies in advance for the pictures on this installment; I got caught up in the making and neglected to spend much time on photography.

foam back panel cells

 So the first step here was to work on the foam pads for the back panel. To save weight and allow a little ventilation, I chose to do it this way instead of in a continuous sheet. Each piece of foam is wrapped in a tube of the stretchy black stuff I used to line the shoulder straps.

finished cell

We'll come back to those. Once I got them finished I realized that I wasn't quite ready to attach them yet.

The  next step was to work on the fabric portion of the hipbelt. everything ties into this one piece of fabric; it has PALS webbing for pockets, the bottom ends of the shoulder straps attach here, the packbag itself attaches here, and the three parallel strips of webbing that form the skeleton for the back panel attach here. All this has to be done before I put the foam into it.

shoulder strap attachment, center part of back panel, and lower end of attachment to packbag

completed hipbelt cover with PALS, hipbelt cinch straps, shoulder strap attachment, stabilizers, lower compression straps for pack, and attachment for packbag

Above is what it looked like when I finally got all the crap attached. I didn't take many pictures during this process, so you'll have to use your imagination. You can see PALS webbing in black, the cinch poritons of the hipbelt and shoulder straps, the lower compression straps for the pack (all bunched up), and the stabilizers (the extra black straps between rows of PALS). Stabilizers pull the pack in closer to your hips when it isn't full.

Once I got all that sewn on, I stitched on the black liner material to the top edge of the hipbelt with the sewing machine. However, I took no pictures. Sorry.

Arranging back pad cells

 In hindsight, I only needed six of these cells rather than ten. I ended up sewing on eight, because I thought that would be the appropriate length, but something went pear-shaped. I had intended to attach the shoulder straps just behind the top pair of pads, but when I did so they were way too high. Live and learn.

pads stitched in place, horizontal compression straps can be seen underneath

Here you can see the attachment of the horizontal compression straps. I designed this so that the straps would be continuous around the entire pack.

attachment of packbag to bottom of hipbelt

Above you can see the mating of the bottom edges of the packbag and the hipbelt. The 2" webbing forms a sort of cradle for the lower edge of the framesheet. After this, I stitched the two outside orange straps to the packbag, securing the back panel and forming the pocket for the framesheet. Getting that exactly the right size was....exciting.

beginnings of top end of frame pocket

 I don't know how this happened. Okay, scratch that, I totally know. The upper closure of the pocket that holds the framesheet was just such a massive pain to sew that I was too busy to do much photography of the process. The above is the only image I have. I went back to take some more photos of the finished product so you can get an idea how it went together.

pocket open; framesheet will slide out the top

center strap holds in framesheet

Top flap comes over

compression straps cover top flap

shoulder strap loadlifters come over atop the rest of it

finished back panel

 With the back panel finished, the next step was to add the foam to the hipbelt. This went pretty similarly to the shoulder straps I detailed in a previous post. However, I found this a little more straightforward, as the bottom edge of the hipbelt is straight rather than contoured.

a bunch of pins, again.

correct pack fit

It was at this point that I hit my first snag. in the photo above, note how the shoulder straps follow the contour of my back to the top of my shoulder blades, where they meet the pack. This is how it's supposed to look. Originally, I had planned to attach them about 2" higher up the frame, which would have left me with a huge gap between the straps and my back, which does not for happy times make. However, this was easy enough to fix; I just added some additional webbing behind the foam pad at the appropriate height, and was good to go.

At this point, the pack is....finished. I think.

I'll post another installment with some better photography when I get the chance to load it up.