Canvas Berghaus Crusader

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lol, love the zep, and robert plant, he lives down the road from my old high school, local hero there, well globally too but, he's a proper bloke y'know? always drinking down the local when he's at home. i think if i still lived there i'd go into major stalking fan mode. had to cycle past his farm house every day. stupid story but my dad used to go drinking with some mates that are friends of robert plant. one day they went to collect plant from his house and dad did all the usual, went inside, had a few beers then they all went into stourbridge or kiddy or wherever they went and did their thing. i asked my dad...'woah, what was his house like?!!' all he could say was 'well....(long thoughtfull pause)..he had a double garage with no doors!' bloody hell dad, exciting news!!!
 
Ok, I've had more time off so I've done some more PLCE Bergen mods... mine is...or rather was, just a standard 1990 PLCE short back.

I took a few Ideas from this thread, a couple from the US Army CPF-90 pack/vector design, and well you'll see.

the rear pouch removed, and horizontal webbing straps added, note 4 PLCE side pouch clips at top(so you can carry the pockets at the back if you wish for narrow paths etc).
and much better Ice axe straps!
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so...what was the record for side pouch carrying? 3...not any more! yes, you can carry 4 side pouches (no, I'm not going to carry that much!)
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here you can see the side and back pockets are clipped on and zipped together for stability (just as a demo).
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here's an Idea i borrowed from "Webtex", an extra pocket on the side pouch, a right **** to do but worth it!
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Heres the back area, which I haven't modded yet.....it's on the list! note the 4 top Q/R clips, which allow the lid to be removed/raised (vector / US CPF-90 Idea)
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a close up showing the removable top straps
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and the lid spaghettified! The Q/R clips are also compatible with the side pouch yoke! to wear the lid as a day pack.
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the lid removed pocket design copied from vector / US CPF-90.
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top of lid open (not quite finished) the red thing is a sofa cushion, the top zip pouch is the original PLCE lid pocket, the other zip (on flap)was originally inside the PLCE lid.
(you can see i ran out of green thread and was using sand)
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Side of the lid, webbing strips as per US CPF-90, note the draw cord (left) when pulled it turns the whole base from a "square" to a "curve" so it hugs the top of the Bergen.
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The draw cord pulled as mentioned.
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the rear of the lid, the lower kit straps are also removable (a vector idea). and a Velcro patch for ID badge etc (bear with me...)
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that Velcro thing? OK here is the Bergen, ID hidden for "quiet camping/hiking"
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lights off and flash camera, with Hi-Vis ID patches
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tricky to take this picture, but basically HI vis dayglow/reflective and glow in the dark Velcro patches
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Question is what should I call it? ;)
 
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Beautiful work Rappleby, it must have taken you ages.
It's going to be a monster to carry when it's fully loaded.
One thing though, the Lowe Alpine floating lid system is attached to the sack with ladder-lock buckles because side-lock buckles release too easily with impact.
Happy trails...torc.
 
A more recent one of my Karrimor Jaguar S65 which was dusted off and used this past weekend for the Surrey Heath Show
karrimorjag65-1.jpg
 
Beautiful work Rappleby, it must have taken you ages.
It's going to be a monster to carry when it's fully loaded.
I can't see myself ever filling it to capacity, it's more about having several options on positions of pouches, for instance when on an ML course I found quite a few instances when the side pouches and rear pouch would catch on fences, stone walls etc, especially when going over obstacles so I could move the pouches to the back if a long narrow path was expected.

One thing though, the Lowe Alpine floating lid system is attached to the sack with ladder-lock buckles because side-lock buckles release too easily with impact.
on photo 6 you'll see the top straps are in line with the shoulder adjusters which I've positioned as a back up for said problem, the 4 Q/R's allow the Side-pouch yoke to be used otherwise I'd have to mod that too, which I didn't fancy ;)

It's not over yet, I have the back and shoulder area to Mod too!

My friend has a practically mint condition Falkland issue Berghaus, I'll have to see if I can get a Photo.
 
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time to ressurrect this thread!

hi my name is mark and i have too many rucksacks.
apart from the ones i posted on here a few months ago i now after a few months of tracking them down own 3 examples of dpm berghaus rucksacks.

berghaus centurion, bit worn but still in great nick.
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berghaus crusader, bloody palava getting this. the seller on ebay listed the rucksack (without pouches) which i won and then 5 days later listed the pouches!
some of the straps are starting to fray and i've repaired a few holes and replaced busted buckles but its still got loads of years left in it.
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and the piece de resistance a near mint condition berghaus cyclops roc. no side pouches unfortunately but beggars cant be choosers.
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all i need now is a dpm munro......
 
I forgot I said I'd post up a picture of mine.

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I've made a couple of mods of course.

Firstly I added a couple of new zips so I could add PLCE pouches on the side as you can see. (I can still fit the originals instead if I need to.)

I beefed up the elastic in the lid with a bit of bungee and I will probably change the lid buckles at some point (I don't like the odd ones they used.)

I've badged it up a bit and added leather tabs to the zips for using with gloves or mittens.

That's about it so far.
 

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