Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Old 60's/70's pack repair

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Old 60's/70's pack repair

    I came across an awesome find and I'm so elated its ridiculous. I've been looking for camping gear online through Freecycle and Craigslist and have received a bunch of great gear including perfectly broken in hiking boots, a super light-weight tree hammock and this pack.

    The woman I bought it from (for $10) said it was her husbands and he had something to do with the boy scouts way back when, sometime in the 70's, so I'm assuming the pack was new around then. It's an oldy-but-goody. It's probably some cheap brand even for back then, but whatever.
    The identification on it is Jasper No. 4374 and on the tag on the inside it says manufactured for Academy Broadway in Smithtown, NY. No idea what any of that means, but it's still a great pack in amazing shape and not only that, it fits me perfectly (unlike my brand-spanking new Kelty pack, ). It sucks being a very small girl sometimes (only sometimes).

    When I got the pack this morning the straps had really old, sticky duct-tape wrapped around some yellow foam for padding and it looked hideous. Also, whomever used it first took the hip strap off and I found it in a pocket, re-attached it to the frame and put it on. Perfecto! Most of the weight rides very comfortably on the small of my back through that frame and on my hips, I love it.

    Anyway, here are some photos of the pack and the major repairs I had to do with the straps.


    The back sans straps (which are on the floor, you can see the sticky tape crap). Plus all my "tools"- black duct tape, dollar store sponges for padding because I couldn't find regular foam, and an old LL Bean backpack from Salvation Army that was 3 bucks, and scissors.


    The ridiculous looking straps. Original straps are on the bottom, padded straps stolen from the LL Bean in the middle, trimmed sponges on top (technically it's the "bottom" because the sponges will be in contact with my shoulders)


    Here you can see the condition of the original straps, and see how much bigger the LL Bean straps are, plus the curvature.


    One strap done. It's a horrible ugly fix and I hate to ruin the overall old-style look of this kick-arse pack but it had to be done!


    The semi-dirty pack, with the flap up.


    The front with re-attached straps. The suspension-type mesh thing at the bottom is so comfortable when wearing (it's literally attached to the frame with a suspension cord deal, but I don't know enough about externals to know if this is the usual)


    Sorry about the blur and the messy room! Here it is with a cheap pad attached. The pack has two straps at the bottom for pads/other things, I added the middle black lashing strap to keep the darn pad from uncoiling. You can see my orange Kelty sitting sadly in the corner.

    I hope you enjoyed my photo essay!

  • #2
    Great Job...Looks like you are good to go!

    Comment


    • #3
      Yeah i have one of those rattling around somewhere too. I remembered it was an academy broadway as soon as i saw it but i didn't remember the 'jasper' name until you mentioned it. When i was in scouts it must have been the one they recommended to all the parents because i have a distinct memory of at least 20 of them in a row waiting to be loaded in the back of the pickup truck.

      Looks like you're going to end up with a good deal! If I recall correctly they sold for around $40 back in the 80's.

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by 111t View Post
        Yeah i have one of those rattling around somewhere too. I remembered it was an academy broadway as soon as i saw it but i didn't remember the 'jasper' name until you mentioned it. When i was in scouts it must have been the one they recommended to all the parents because i have a distinct memory of at least 20 of them in a row waiting to be loaded in the back of the pickup truck.

        Looks like you're going to end up with a good deal! If I recall correctly they sold for around $40 back in the 80's.
        Thanks for the info!

        Comment


        • #5
          Hi kibbles,
          Comfort ahead of style is good common sense,IMO. We have hiking bags with external frames[haven't used in awhile] and this is transferring weight away from hips.I might add a tassle loke Yvon's wife in their ''early'' winter climb last week[thumbs up hiking backwards at steep declines!] Duct tape is waterproof,and very useful. tnx for pics Looncry

          Comment

          Working...
          X