Small but Important Gear Modifications
Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2020 8:36 pm
This thread is where to contribute your:
Suggested Gear Modifications that are a really, really good idea....
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My contribution:
If you have an external frame backpack, such as a Kelty, where the bottom of each shoulder strap has a loop that goes over a piece of semi-circular metal with two holes in the ends, that take a clevis pin, that goes through the frame at hip level,
Warning: REPLACE THE COTTER PINS WITH SMALL KEY RINGS !
Yesterday, I was about to begin a cross country trip into the Eastern Sierras (3,800 foot elev. gain) up a canyon where few dare to wander. I lifted my Kelty external frame pack from the back seat and set it on its feet against my car.
Ready to go! No... I reached for the right shoulder strap with my right hand and lifted.... but nothing happened. Except raising the shoulder strap in the air. Before heading back to town to retrace my steps, to look for the missing clevis pin, I looked one more time and found it about six (6) feet from my car, in the sand.
Sometime between the last time I had the pack on my back and putting it against my car yesterday, the cotter pin that holds the clevis pin disappeared. I had a small key ring, and inserted it through the small hole at the end of the clevis pin. It will never come off. I plan to carry spares. I bought a package of spares (Liberty Mountain "Pins and Rings") at Elevation (Lone Pine, CA) and there are tiny "key rings" through the hole at the end of the clevis pin.
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Suggested Gear Modifications that are a really, really good idea....
* * *
My contribution:
If you have an external frame backpack, such as a Kelty, where the bottom of each shoulder strap has a loop that goes over a piece of semi-circular metal with two holes in the ends, that take a clevis pin, that goes through the frame at hip level,
Warning: REPLACE THE COTTER PINS WITH SMALL KEY RINGS !
Yesterday, I was about to begin a cross country trip into the Eastern Sierras (3,800 foot elev. gain) up a canyon where few dare to wander. I lifted my Kelty external frame pack from the back seat and set it on its feet against my car.
Ready to go! No... I reached for the right shoulder strap with my right hand and lifted.... but nothing happened. Except raising the shoulder strap in the air. Before heading back to town to retrace my steps, to look for the missing clevis pin, I looked one more time and found it about six (6) feet from my car, in the sand.
Sometime between the last time I had the pack on my back and putting it against my car yesterday, the cotter pin that holds the clevis pin disappeared. I had a small key ring, and inserted it through the small hole at the end of the clevis pin. It will never come off. I plan to carry spares. I bought a package of spares (Liberty Mountain "Pins and Rings") at Elevation (Lone Pine, CA) and there are tiny "key rings" through the hole at the end of the clevis pin.
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