Spare parts for OLD Macpacs

[Moondog55]

I have decided that my summer walking will be too hot to use my current bags and I have decided to clean up and use my old MacPac external frame. I need a new or better hipbelt to fit it. Can anyone suggest my best course of action short of me making one myself, I think this one is over 20 years old but is still in quite good condition, I mean it needs new shoulder straps and a hipbelt but apart from that the canvas and zippers are as new, good gear last; great gear lasts longer I guess.

[Moondog55]

Also I am open to suggestions on ways to make improvements on the suspension as well

[wander]

Take it to Remote Repairs in Little Bourke St.

[Moondog55]

Maybe I should move this to DIY
Remote do good work but this isn't anything I can't do myself

[Maelgwn]

Osprey used to make interchangeable hip belts? Maybe one of those can be made to fit?

Failing that, ask OP or macpac what they can sell from their spare parts that could be made to fit?

[Moondog55]

]HMMMM
I have just got off the phone with Remote Repairs.
The replacement hip belt that fits is close to $140- dollars, They may have a "Something" in the spare parts and old stock bin that could possibly fit but at that cost I reckon I'll be on the sewing machine for a few days, it's not like a hipbelt for an internal frame these are much simpler

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[Moondog55]

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Shots of the old style frame, great ventilation and simply huge capacity.

[blacksheep]

Would you like macpac to make you something? We can help..

[Moondog55]

Honestly I don't think I could afford it at the moment.
But if you were willing to offer a suggestion I'll gratefully accept any hints you may offer

[blacksheep]

Post a pic with some measurements and details and we can make you something..nothing near what remote quoted, its good to see old macpacs staying out there.

[Mountain Rocket]

[...] its good to see old macpacs staying out there.

It is good to see blacksheep standing behind his products!

[JohnM]

Post a pic with some measurements and details and we can make you something..nothing near what remote quoted, its good to see old macpacs staying out there.

Yep, my 20ish year old purple Macpac Olympus still flies the flag on ocassion. Used it over the long weekend up Bogong way: rained, water droplets froze overnight, no problems. *&%$#! good gear!

[Moondog55]

PM sent Campbell

[JohnM]

speaking of the old Olympus, I actually can't remember when I bought it. Just posting a pic here in the hope that blacksheep or anyone else can date it for me. It's getting pretty hard to pitch taught now, the outer is sagging a bit, but it's still standing up well to the weather and is bright enough to see through even the thickest low cloud!

[Moondog55]

OMG it's POIPLE

[Son of a Beach]

Looks like it has the plastic stick thingy above the front door for holding the vent open (and velcro for holding it closed?). In which case it probably has no back door. If this is correct, it's probably the same model as my father's (although his is grey), and he bought that in about the early eighties, I think. It's still going strong too (except that I broke his plastic stick thingy while packing it up last time I borrowed it).

[JohnM]

It's got the plastic stick thingy, but definitely two vestibules and entrances of equal size at either end.

And *&%$#! oath it's purple. I think back then, every second piece of hiking gear in the shops was purple. I remember owning a Mont polarfleece in purple, and my old Mont Spindrift bag is black outer, with a purple draft collar and tube.

I reckon the purple works pretty well on tents.

[JohnM]

and before anyone thinks I'm swearing like a sailor, all I'm doing is using the word that starts with b, and ends with loody. I keep forgetting that we've got the world's strictest swear filter here...

[Moondog55]

I have a Fairydown Plateau of the same era, it is Purrrple and lime greeeen and yes every second bit of kit was that colour, there must have been a sale on those pigments that decade

[blacksheep]

speaking of the old Olympus, I actually can't remember when I bought it. Just posting a pic here in the hope that blacksheep or anyone else can date it for me. It's getting pretty hard to pitch taught now, the outer is sagging a bit, but it's still standing up well to the weather and is bright enough to see through even the thickest low cloud!

they came in indigo (not Purple! ) and double door up until 97. So somewhere between 89-97, depending on a few other variables. Either way, it has aged gracefully.

[JohnM]

speaking of the old Olympus, I actually can't remember when I bought it. Just posting a pic here in the hope that blacksheep or anyone else can date it for me. It's getting pretty hard to pitch taught now, the outer is sagging a bit, but it's still standing up well to the weather and is bright enough to see through even the thickest low cloud!

they came in indigo (not Purple! ) and double door up until 97. So somewhere between 89-97, depending on a few other variables. Either way, it has aged gracefully.

Cheers. First daughter was born in '95, and we got the tent a few years before that, so I'd say there's a fair chance it's survived 2 decades. Been to Patagonia, the French Alps, South Island of NZ, Tassie, all over Vic and NSW... and never let me down. She's pretty heavy, but absolutely bombproof. t'll be a sad day when she gets retired. I remember paying what I thought was a HUGE amount of money for that tent back then, from memory either $545 or $575. But it just goes to show you that if the gear's quality, and you're really going to use it, then there's no such thing as 'expensive': $28 a year for a home in the bush is pretty good value I reckon.

Got a couple of Cascade packs of the same vintage, about the only thing they've ever needed doing is replacing the rubber strip thingies in the frame about 6 years ago: remote repairs did a good job. I think these packs will last 40 years easy.

[slparker]

I have a minaret in the same color... Mine's faded to a mauve now...

[rucksack]

JohnM, Blacksheep and Son of Beach

I have one of that model Olympus too; mine is a silver grey/pale blue double door. I bought it in 1990. The outers were nylon then and they tended to stretch over time as the sunlight took its toll. (I destroyed my 1984 single door Olympus on some very extended trips in Central Australia, with the fabric and stitching of the outer finally disintegrating at about the same time, although the inner remained serviceable.) I also have an indigo double door 1999 model Olympus and by that time, Macpac had swapped to a polyester fly (around 1998, I think), as polyester tends to sheds water better than nylon and doesn't stretch as much as a result of sunlight. My 1999 Olympus is still in robust use as my dead-of-winter snow tent - it's utterly reliable and has been through some ferocious weather over the years. As it's 12 years old now, I am sort of nursing it, to make sure that I can keep it in the 'active inventory' for a few more years. It has been to Remote Equipment Repairs a couple of times: I spiked the floor in the Grose Wilderness in the Blue Mountains NP one year and another year, it was blown off the Western Arthurs, (don't ask, but it was a very interesting down climb to retrieve it). A great tent.

rucksack

[Moondog55]

Well a couple of years since the first post but I finally got my new hipbelt courtesy of Uncle Sam and the Americans changing their camouflage patterns once again.
Evil Stepdaughter carried this home in her baggage to save me the cost of international postage.
Plenty of these in sale very cheap in the USA I paid $24- with free 48 shipping
I prefer minimum and firm padding and these are exactly that and for an external frame I find this hipbelt almost perfect and the buckle is the best I have ever used, if I can find some on their own I am going to replace all mine with this clone of the parachute buckle, it simply does not slip.
Even with postage at around $30- I would recommend this hipbelt as a good and affordable replacement for any external frame pack.
The matching shoulder straps I would not recommend tho as they are cut to fit over load-bearing webgear and Body Armour and are too wide for bushwalking use

[Moondog55]

I just ordered a second hand belt for my modified ALICE frame project, second hand unit cost $US18- and postage another $US17-- but that is still a very cheap hipbelt. At those prices it simply isn't work a DIY job