Bushwalk Australia

I just bought a S/H Mountainsmith lumbar pack. The "Day"
It's quite large and may just replace my l Camelback MULE as it appears to be of similar capacity
It came with a shoulder strap but not the Strapettes. Can anybody who owns one of the older models of these tell me how & where the strapettes are usually attached?
Anybody else here use one and care to comment?

G'day MD.

IIRC, that pack is essentially a lumbar pack on a reasonable belt, and the "strapettes" are accessory L & R shoulder straps ? I don't remember how high above the waist belt that the top of the bag is, which may affect my thoughts below.

I have a Kifaru Tail Gunner which is also a large lumbar pack, for which I have accessory shoulder straps.

If you check in Google Images you will find pics of the Kifaru TG, showing the attachment points for these straps. The pics also show short straps angling from the top inner corners of the bag down to the belt. The bag also has compressions straps.

After using the shoulder straps for a while, I discovered that if I used the compression straps, and the short straps angling down to the belt, I could hold the bag in close with minimal sagging and dragging. Can't say what loads have been in it with the shoulder straps, but nowadays I would guess maybe 3.5 kg gross. It has been heavier (when I was younger )

That is the way I now use the pack, and have not used the shoulder straps for many years. I would be inclined toward seeing what you can do along these lines before mucking around with shoulder straps.

Add : There are differing iterations of the TG shown on Googleimages. The following two links show the one that I have :-

https://www.rokslide.com/forums/threads ... lt.157688/

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/ ... -482424986

With Patrick Smith once owning Mountainsmith the similarities are obvious.
I could sew up shoulder straps in an hour or so or I could simply use the ones I made for the Lowe bumbag.
This iteration is 300 * 300 * 110mm plus the small back pocket so about 12 litres capacity.
I can see several places where I could put the shoulder straps but I haven't yet found a clear picture of the placement or their use in action.
I did think that my other big bumbag was 8 litres but it's actually only 4 or 5.
Pictures follow

OK I just found a short U-Tube and simple as, I'll just need to find a couple of the thin Stainless steel 3-bar buckles to make a set or use an alternative
https://www.google.com/search?client=fi ... Pl5-j2AQ22

As you say, very similar BUT for one thing that I noticed in your vid.

In the vid, the lower (front?) end of the shoulder straps attach to the bag. This is better for our purposes than the attachment point on mine, which are recommended to be in front of the body on the belt. I don't recall, but with all the molle and doo dads, it may be possible to also attach my straps as shown in your vid

Attachment in front would work very well in a military role with a few kilos of ammunition on the belt in pouches counterbalancing the main bag, but for us it simply encourages the belt to slide up. I don't remember this being an issue when I used the straps, but it may well have been one of the reasons that I stopped using the straps

I'm thinking that as a get-home skiing bag this will work well for me even without the shoulder straps. After all it wont be as if I need to carry full snow survival kit, just an extra warm layer etc because we all know how fast the weather can change. Also enough space so ski goggles don't get crushed
I'll set up the sewing machine and make up a new set of shoulder straps over this coming week, the set i made for the Lowe bag isn't quite right for the buckle spacing on the Mountainsmith.
I just washed the bag and tomorrow after it is thoroughly dry it will get a wash with some diluted silicon to repair a couple of thin spots and take away the tackiness of degrading polyurethane coating.
EDIT
I do however like the idea of expanding capacity with the use of MOLLE pouches, I do that with the other bumbag at need, adding a water bottle pouch on each side for a day trip works well

Checked my stash, and as well as the shoulder straps, I also have the single strap to use it as a shoulder bag - think I'd rather just just use my Crumpler for my shoulder bag duties.

You have motivated me to source a molle water bottle holder, which I will put on the LHS of the belt. The molle odds and ends pouch already there can be moved to the side of the bag or simply left off.

Not U/L, but very useful and user friendly.

Surplus MOLLE pouches are very handy as well as cheap.
Not all of them make for good waterbottle pouches, most being wider rather than deep but lots of non-surplus utility type stuff available on Amazon etc:
My old army waterbottle does fit the mesh pocket on my bag really well tho, including the cup and burner shield