MYOG Roll Top Bag For Exo Frame

Upcountry

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Sep 30, 2014
Messages
178
Location
Lassen County
I was one of the earlybirds to get on board with what Exo Mountain Gear was doing and picked up one of their 3500's from their first run back in 2014. I've had great luck with their system, although I've come across several things that I wasn't one hundred percent in favor or fond of. A few of these complaints have been remedied in their updates in the past few years, however I can't seem to bring myself to spend the $500 to jump in on a new setup. That combined with my endless tinkering, I decided to set out to create something that I think might be just what I'm looking for.

I came up with a streamlined roll top design, with plans of incorporating all of the factory Exo compression straps. To start with, I added some aluminum struts to the frame's back panel, as has been done on the newest K2 version. The final volume of this bag is somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 liters as shown in the pictures. The bag weighs 22oz exactly, including all attached hardware! Total pack weight including hip belt pouches and frame is an ounce shy of 5 pounds.

I recreated essentially the same XPac panel that Exo used to mount the bag to the frame. On the inside of this I sewed a large 3" velcro loop strip across the top of the bag, so that I can attach some small organizers inside the bag. I wanted to keep the pack narrow in width, as one of my biggest critiques of the 3500 bag was it's width(I'm a skinny guy) when you used the two long side pockets(which had horrible closures as well). The body of the bag is about 14" wide, 26" tall(36" unrolled), and 9" deep, with a flat bottom and slightly rounded corners. The entire rear facing outside panel features a layer of 500D Cordura, with a double layer of Spandura fabric over the top of it. This essentially creates one 12" wide by 24" tall stretchy pocket. One of the features I loved about the Exo bag was the rear stretch pocket, so I knew I wanted something similar. I also have recently taken up archery, and wanted a nice flat surface that I'd be able to strap my bow to. (accessory straps to accommodate this are in the works already) The roll top closure of my bag seals in anything you stuff in the stretch pocket. It's my intent to use this for my frequently used items throughout the day(extra layers, maps, sunglasses, gloves), similar to what you might use a lid for. The roll top closure features 12" long flexible plastic inserts inside the webbing around the perimeter of the opening. This gives some rigidity to make it easy to get a nice roll to close and also helps prop the mouth of the bag open when you're loading it. The roll is then held tight with an adjustable strap that can be moved up and down the length of the bag and attaches to any point on the daisy chain on the side. This daisy chain also allows the compression straps of the bag to be ran over or under. This will be great for keeping my tripod locked into one little "slot" on either side of the daisy chain.

I also used double layered Spandura to create some lower stash pockets, which are always handy for a tripod, or Nalgene. The bottom of the bag and lower 3" perimeter are all double layered in 500D Cordura. One of the design aspects I put a lot of thought into was the integration with the frame's compression straps. I can essentially move any of these buckles/webbing loops around to any of the sixteen attachment points I created into the body of the bag. There are two of these attachment loops on either sides of the bag, each corresponding to be level that compression strap. So the buckles shown attached to the rearmost seam, could also be moved to the seam nearest the frame panel for a truly large load. The black loop webbing retainers are all removable to allow you to adapt how and where the bag is compressing under tension. This is kind of demonstrated in the picture with the orange "meat bag" in the load shelf area.

I'm sure there are some things I forgot to explain, but...
Here's the finished product...
(I'll post some construction pics if requested)

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CONTINUED BELOW...
 
OP
U

Upcountry

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Sep 30, 2014
Messages
178
Location
Lassen County
Part ii...

This picture shows the access to the large stretchy pocket with a bit of velcro to keep it inline. The picture below that shows what it looks like with a large puffy jacket and pair of 10x42's shoved down in it.
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And here is the bag fully compressed down. You can really cinch it down to nothing.
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And in meat hauling mode... I don't have it really cinched or loaded well, as the backpack bag is just full of sheets for the pictures.
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I'm really pleased with how this came out! This was by far the biggest and most intricate project I've tackled for MYOG. Total labor was about 12 hours on this, not including just the conceptualizing and sketching. There are a few things I'll be adding to it down the road and I'll report those on here as well.
 

jaredlef

FNG
Joined
Jan 22, 2016
Messages
38
Wow, nice work - everything looks crisp and clean. Any idea what the range of volume is? Any plans to include a lid?
 
OP
U

Upcountry

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Sep 30, 2014
Messages
178
Location
Lassen County
Thanks for all the positive comments guys!
Lockster, It really is pretty cool when it all comes together. I was smiling ear to ear walking around the house last night with the pack on... hahah
Jaredlef, -The volume is upwards of 60 Liters(3600ci) as it's packed in those pictures. That number comes from some quick volumetric math, and also from putting my 50L dry bag inside of it completely stuffed full and then adding 4 additional king size sheets. That's with five or six rolls on the top, so I could probably get another 10L just up top with a few less rolls of the closure. - I have been trying to visualize a lid that I might like. I don't want to add a lid, just to add one. So I'm trying to conceptualize one that has a few purposes and doesn't just look like a last minute add on. My list of those uses/needs in kind of a priority are: -Be convertible to a small waist pack or shoulder sling for stalks. -Carry 1L of water(platypus or nalgene). -Aid in packing out a skull with antlers.

Durangobrad, I ended up "upgrading" my sewing machine at the start of this project, as last week when I sat down to mess around with some ideas, my cheap Brother sewing machine took a crap. It was an $80 machine and lasted me two years, so it had a good run. I didn't go big with the new machine, only spent $125 and got the Singer 4432, which they call their "Heavy Duty" hobbyist model. I was very pleasantly surprised. There are several spots on the bag where I was sewing through 3 layers of webbing, and two layers of 500d material and it handled it. You'd have to kind of go into those thick spots with a bit of momentum, but it never hesitated much!
 
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LostArra

WKR
Joined
May 9, 2013
Messages
3,435
Location
Oklahoma
Outstanding work and design.
I've been wanting to make my Exo 3500 into a roll top rather than the cinch cord but you took this to a whole new level.
 
OP
U

Upcountry

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Sep 30, 2014
Messages
178
Location
Lassen County
pods8, That is indeed the Durastretch from owfinc.com. It turned out to be a pretty good match, better than the camera makes it out to be as the white balance and contrast is a bit off on these pictures.!
 

AGPank

WKR
Joined
Jan 16, 2013
Messages
978
Nice work.

Building one yourself gives you appreciation for the cost of a manufactured unit.

A lot of labor involved.
 
OP
U

Upcountry

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Sep 30, 2014
Messages
178
Location
Lassen County
Here you go durangobrad; I pulled the entire frame apart, removing the titanium frame, which requires taking the hip belt off. I then sewed two 12" lengths of 1" webbing to the frame "panel"(fabric that houses the Exo frame). I placed these inline with the two compression straps that do not have any reinforcement. I sewed one end of the webbing closed, then inserted a 11 1/2" aluminum strut into the webbing, and sewed that end closed. I really do think it helps kind of tie the whole bag and frame together. The frame panel is largely just fabric, and as a result tended to distort when you would cinch down the bag. This still keeps the frame very flexible to twist/torsion, doesn't affect vertical traits, but helps keep the load closer to your back and "tighter" feeling.

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