Sabre 45 & 4 PLCE side pouches

[bushscout1]

I've got a Karrimor Sabre 45 sack which I got with a pair of side pouches, I think its a great bit of kit (as do many others on here from other posts I've read).

The only thing is that for extended trips I cant always get all my kit in, but I can't really afford to shell out on an even bigger sack for such 'occassional' trips (by can't afford I mean both monetary & maritally)

I recently got a bunch of kit from ebay which included another pair of side pouches, which got me thinking...

So I've had a play & figured that I can zip all the pouches together, then zip each side into the side zips on the sabre 45, with the outermost pockets also being clipped in to & bottom. I'm now working on creating a female-female extension for the compression straps to link around the whole thing.

Theoretically, this then gives me a sack with a 40 ltr main pocket, a 5 ltr top pocket & four 12.5 ltr 'side' pockets giving a total capacity of 95 litres !!! If it works this makes this sack even more versatile & the cost of having such variety still very reasonable.

I've not as yet filled it & road-tested it as I'm still working on linking the compression straps to hold it all together. I'm sure I'm not the first to think of this so thought I'd ask what your experiences have been / comments / suggestions are?

Cheers

Jon

 

[spamel]

One of the signallers in a unit I was in years ago used to do a similar thing. He put three pouches on, the two normal and a third to hold his signals gear.

 

[bikething]

Just make sure you don't put heavy gear in the pouches on the back

The amount of leverage it will have will do your back in

 

[Surrey Yeoman]

I've done the three pouch thing with my Vulcan on the odd occasion when I've needed extra capacity, but it's amazing how much heavier one extra side pouch full can make the overall burden! I also found that the third side pouch wasn't quite the right width and tended to compress the main compartment a little, but it made up for that in making the contents of the extra pouch more accessible.

RVOps now flog PLCE & Vulcan Bergens with extra zips on the back for adding the third side pouch.

Like Bikething says, watch out for extra weight mounted on the front of the rucksack pulling against your back.

 

[bushscout1]

Thanks for the hints / tips, I'll let you know how I get on in due course.

Cheers

Jon

 

[Aragorn]

you got any updates on this mod jon, i wouldn't mind seeing some pics and a mini review, did it solve your problem or wasn't it worth the hassle ?

 

[woof]

Is it the extra weight that can cause back problems, or the fact that it alters the balance of the bag ?.

 

[crazydave]

PLCE issue recon packs can take extra pouches - I altered one of mine to take 5 so I could pack more rations but I was a lot fitter then. the problem you might have is comfort on the harness side of things so pack light stuff on the outside if poss.

if it has zips and fastex then try with zipping three around the outside and one either on top or bottom

 

[fred gordon]

Is it the extra weight that can cause back problems, or the fact that it alters the balance of the bag ?.

I am now a great believer in the saying 'know more and carry less' Came to this conclusion after years of carrying too much.

 

[Glen]

I think the worry is having the extra weight carried away from your own center of gravity, a leveraging effect.

 

[Minotaur]

Do you review your kit every trip?

Go to some of the lightweight hiking sites, and see what you can change.

Would it not make more sense to attach the extra pouches on either side.