A friend gave me this 20 year old pack I thought I'd never use, but here I am. The guy that gave it to me said it had never been used. The inside waterproof coating is peeling off, and it's heavy - but it has all of the old-school tech features I need for a 1000 ft. vertical trail hike carrying winter hammock gear next weekend. It has good lumbar/hip pads/belt that rest in the right places, top of shoulder strap tensioners, and chest strap. My thing is kayak camping instead of hiking, but this is a one-off special event (cold butt group hang). I'm 58, in good health and physical shape, but 20 lbs overweight at 200. I have a total load weight of 31 lbs, and the pack holds it all no prob, using only about the bottom 2/3 of space. My main question is, am I better off to remove the actually heavy/large/thick aluminum stays at this weight, or keep them inplace? Also, should i try and spread load out along the full length of the pack instead and cinch up the slack in diameter? My bedding is light but pretty much fills the very bottom, and I'm trying to keep my 2L+ water higher between my shoulder blades. Filtering is out due to feral pigs soiling the supply. And a bonus answer would be, how to remove all that peeling rubberized coating that gets all over everything, or is it worth it for occasionally using this old pack? I thought about just putting anything needing water protection in a 40 gal contractor bag on the inside, and using a pack cover for the outside. THANKS!


Edited by Lucidcryotan (01/11/18 05:18 PM)