Sharpfinger
Slightly Addicted
- Messages
- 438
- Points
- 750
Aye Up All,
Prompted by Philmandoo’s DIY hammock post.
Over my lifetime I’ve probably had more rucksacks than you can shake a stick at.
I’ve still got two ‘civvy’ rucks that go back to the eighties used for conventional outdoor pursuits - hiking/climbing/canoeing and I’ve always been reasonably satisfied with them.
It’s been a different story with rucks used for deployment ‘into the green stuff’ however.
Down to widely varying types of deployment; amounts of kit required; load types/accessibility etc I don’t seem to have ever been satisfied with issued and off the shelf surplus solutions. Whenever I’ve come close it’s often been a case of -
‘if only it was 5-10 litres bigger;
‘if only access was easier in the prone position;
‘if only the shoulder to waist dimension was slightly longer.
And so on.
And so it was the case after just over a years use of a Dutch surplus (SF?) ruck as a day sack+.
I loved the utility and access aspects plus the narrow width of the ruck works well when moving through close woodland. The colour of the ruck (coyote - more on this later) also worked reasonably well across the type of terrain I was deploying into and in the different seasons.
But the distance between the shoulder straps where they joined the top of the ruck was just too narrow and felt uncomfortable at the back of my neck and the stability strap was just a fraction too high on my ribs. The latter issue comes about, as in military use the rucks are made to sit above waist belt order equipment, and due to the wearing of body armour the rib issue is hardly noticed.
My first move had been to alter the shoulder straps, moving them 2cms further apart but the improvement in comfort was minimal.
I also contemplated lengthening the ruck slightly so that the stability strap could become a waist belt. I’d gone this route previously with a Northern Ireland patrol ruck but that had been quite a task.
I had then looked on the web for a larger version of the Dutch SF.
No joy but I then did come across a commercial contender - the Tasmanian Tiger Trooper. A video initially suggested that it might just tick nearly all the required boxes bar one - price. Two hundred and fifty quid was a bit too steep for me.
Back to the search bar.
No joy.
But then with the word ‘coyote’ in the question up popped a potential solution-
3 metres x 1.5 metres of 1000D coyote coloured waterproof Cordura - for 40 quid plus £12 shipping from the US!!
During the time that I’d been searching the web, my mind in the background had already been critiquing the TT ruck, for instance the outer pockets weren’t detachable and overall it was probably too large for a daysack+.
What I really needed was a daysack+ size, which could be ‘extended’ to accommodate extra winter kit; extra food and water; extra tech kit. The thought process then developed further. What if the daysack+ with extension could be extended yet further to accommodate full (inc winter) 3-5 day support a la my 120 litre Brit surplus Bergan?
I thought - is it possible - one ruck ‘system’ that could replace my 30 litre-ish daysack; my extended NI patrol ruck and my 120litre behemoth, and in each case the configuration in use is no bigger than needed?
I ordered the material.
Part 2 to follow.
Prompted by Philmandoo’s DIY hammock post.
Over my lifetime I’ve probably had more rucksacks than you can shake a stick at.
I’ve still got two ‘civvy’ rucks that go back to the eighties used for conventional outdoor pursuits - hiking/climbing/canoeing and I’ve always been reasonably satisfied with them.
It’s been a different story with rucks used for deployment ‘into the green stuff’ however.
Down to widely varying types of deployment; amounts of kit required; load types/accessibility etc I don’t seem to have ever been satisfied with issued and off the shelf surplus solutions. Whenever I’ve come close it’s often been a case of -
‘if only it was 5-10 litres bigger;
‘if only access was easier in the prone position;
‘if only the shoulder to waist dimension was slightly longer.
And so on.
And so it was the case after just over a years use of a Dutch surplus (SF?) ruck as a day sack+.
I loved the utility and access aspects plus the narrow width of the ruck works well when moving through close woodland. The colour of the ruck (coyote - more on this later) also worked reasonably well across the type of terrain I was deploying into and in the different seasons.
But the distance between the shoulder straps where they joined the top of the ruck was just too narrow and felt uncomfortable at the back of my neck and the stability strap was just a fraction too high on my ribs. The latter issue comes about, as in military use the rucks are made to sit above waist belt order equipment, and due to the wearing of body armour the rib issue is hardly noticed.
My first move had been to alter the shoulder straps, moving them 2cms further apart but the improvement in comfort was minimal.
I also contemplated lengthening the ruck slightly so that the stability strap could become a waist belt. I’d gone this route previously with a Northern Ireland patrol ruck but that had been quite a task.
I had then looked on the web for a larger version of the Dutch SF.
No joy but I then did come across a commercial contender - the Tasmanian Tiger Trooper. A video initially suggested that it might just tick nearly all the required boxes bar one - price. Two hundred and fifty quid was a bit too steep for me.
Back to the search bar.
No joy.
But then with the word ‘coyote’ in the question up popped a potential solution-
3 metres x 1.5 metres of 1000D coyote coloured waterproof Cordura - for 40 quid plus £12 shipping from the US!!
During the time that I’d been searching the web, my mind in the background had already been critiquing the TT ruck, for instance the outer pockets weren’t detachable and overall it was probably too large for a daysack+.
What I really needed was a daysack+ size, which could be ‘extended’ to accommodate extra winter kit; extra food and water; extra tech kit. The thought process then developed further. What if the daysack+ with extension could be extended yet further to accommodate full (inc winter) 3-5 day support a la my 120 litre Brit surplus Bergan?
I thought - is it possible - one ruck ‘system’ that could replace my 30 litre-ish daysack; my extended NI patrol ruck and my 120litre behemoth, and in each case the configuration in use is no bigger than needed?
I ordered the material.
Part 2 to follow.
