This is a backpack I am making my almost 8 year old son. I plan to take him on a backpacking trip in September to test it out. I also plan to take him and his little brother next summer. Because I plan to take a second child, he needs to carry a little more stuff than his school bag has room for. And, I don't have the money to buy him a properly fitted pack. Also keep in mind that he is going to carry a lot of light bulky items, like his sleeping bag, sleeping mat, some clothes, his hammock, and a little water. I will be carrying the heavy, non-bulky things for him, like cooking stuff, food, etc. Hopefully the loaded pack isn't over 6-7 lbs, and definitely not over 10. With that as a pre-cursor, here is what I have done so far.
I took an old pack I had that I didn't really like and cut off the shoulder straps, waist belt, back padding, any webbing, and any hardware. Then I took a sheet of HDPE that is 1/16th of an inch thick (a little over 60 mils) and used it as a frame.
Here is the waist belt attached. With all my attachments, I simply drilled a hole and used 550 cord with knots.
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Here is the back side showing how I attached it.
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Here are the shoulder straps.
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This shows the tap I sewed on by hand.
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This shows the load lifters I sewed on by hand.
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This shows how I attached the shoulder straps to the frame with 550 cord.
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This shows the back side of the frame where the shoulder straps are attached.
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This shows how I attached the bottom end of the shoulder straps to the frame.
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Here are the load lifters attached.
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Here is the frame and suspension complete.
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This shows how it fits my son.
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The way it is now, it barely is small enough to fit my son. He will be able to grow into it in a few years, and I will probably buy him a normal pack when he hits 12 or so, at which point his baby brother will be big enough for it.
Of course, I am not finished yet. This is just the frame. I still need to put a little more padding on the back panel. Then I need to attach straps to the frame. I will also sew a bag. The idea is to put everything in a separate bag, then wrap the sleeping mat around the bag, and then strap it to the frame. I will continue to post pictures as I progress.
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