Aarn body pack and hydration woes
Posted: Tue 20 Sep, 2016 8:19 pmI have a new Aarn Effortless Rhythm and a couple of Sport Balance pockets. I have done a couple of hikes with it, but my first real 'full weight' overnight hike is coming up shortly. I am really at a loss as to how to arrange the water. It is one thing the Aarns are really poor on (in my naive opinion). Extremely poor.
There is a hydration hole in the top lid, which verges on a joke. For a start, the top lid does not hold a 2L hydration bladder (well, you can scrunch it up, but it does not fit). It is also not supported in any way - you just push it into the top lid along with all of your other stuff, and trust that it does not leak or sweat at all. I could use a dry sack of some sort, I guess, but it seems totally wrong. The weight is also all above your neck, which seems incorrect. Not happy with that solution.
Aarn suggests that you put normal water bottles on the front webbing of the Pockets. In fact, they say "Rectangular section water bottles fit best in the mesh pockets on the Balance Pockets". I have never seen a rectangular water bottle, but some users have suggested I find a fruit juice container (or something) from Coles or Woolworths that is of the right shape. The problem is the normal round water bottles are a very tight fit (extremely) and are hard to get to on the walk. They are right out in front of you and you cannot see the tie on straps to reinsert them. This is what I have been using and it really means I usually go without water as it is simply too much effort to get it. It might get you through during winter, but in summer it would not be practical, I don't think.
For the last few hours I have been trying to get a 1L bladder into one of the pockets. I bought 2 of these on ebay and they might in fact work. The 1L bladder fits into the pocket ok - in fact I can fit one into the dry liner provided in each pocket. This is great as it keeps any moisture from the rest of the stuff in the pocket. Things are looking up! There are 2 problems though. The first is that the hose comes out of the pocket zipper at the top and it means you cannot close the zipper completely, which makes the pocket non-waterproof. Not a big problem I guess as the pocket is not really waterproof unless you use the dry liner, and the water bladder is using that. I have considered cutting a hole in the pocket and putting in a bit of velcro to seal it - just as a H2O hole in a normal pack. But that is a bit drastic until I explore all the other avenues.
The other problem is that you have this big hose coming out of the pocket that you need to tie somewhere convenient so that you can use it. I have spent a long time trying different routing options, but so far nothing is that brilliant. The thing is it has to be close to your body otherwise your arm will hit it as you walk. It also has to be held to the side otherwise it eventually pushes the zipper open. I currently have a few cable ties attaching the hose to various bits of the pocket and it might work at a pinch, but I am not happy with it. I might be able to cut the hose down real short - but will see how it goes. This should get me through my next hike ok.
I realise that if you don't have one of these packs this will most likely be double dutch to you. These are weird packs that have some good design points, but some things simply don't make much sense (to me). Obviously Aarn know what they are doing, and as they said in one email to me "There is a reason for everything on our packs,...", but frankly a lot of the stuff is puzzling.
If anyone has any out of left field ideas, would LOVE to hear about them!
There is a hydration hole in the top lid, which verges on a joke. For a start, the top lid does not hold a 2L hydration bladder (well, you can scrunch it up, but it does not fit). It is also not supported in any way - you just push it into the top lid along with all of your other stuff, and trust that it does not leak or sweat at all. I could use a dry sack of some sort, I guess, but it seems totally wrong. The weight is also all above your neck, which seems incorrect. Not happy with that solution.
Aarn suggests that you put normal water bottles on the front webbing of the Pockets. In fact, they say "Rectangular section water bottles fit best in the mesh pockets on the Balance Pockets". I have never seen a rectangular water bottle, but some users have suggested I find a fruit juice container (or something) from Coles or Woolworths that is of the right shape. The problem is the normal round water bottles are a very tight fit (extremely) and are hard to get to on the walk. They are right out in front of you and you cannot see the tie on straps to reinsert them. This is what I have been using and it really means I usually go without water as it is simply too much effort to get it. It might get you through during winter, but in summer it would not be practical, I don't think.
For the last few hours I have been trying to get a 1L bladder into one of the pockets. I bought 2 of these on ebay and they might in fact work. The 1L bladder fits into the pocket ok - in fact I can fit one into the dry liner provided in each pocket. This is great as it keeps any moisture from the rest of the stuff in the pocket. Things are looking up! There are 2 problems though. The first is that the hose comes out of the pocket zipper at the top and it means you cannot close the zipper completely, which makes the pocket non-waterproof. Not a big problem I guess as the pocket is not really waterproof unless you use the dry liner, and the water bladder is using that. I have considered cutting a hole in the pocket and putting in a bit of velcro to seal it - just as a H2O hole in a normal pack. But that is a bit drastic until I explore all the other avenues.
The other problem is that you have this big hose coming out of the pocket that you need to tie somewhere convenient so that you can use it. I have spent a long time trying different routing options, but so far nothing is that brilliant. The thing is it has to be close to your body otherwise your arm will hit it as you walk. It also has to be held to the side otherwise it eventually pushes the zipper open. I currently have a few cable ties attaching the hose to various bits of the pocket and it might work at a pinch, but I am not happy with it. I might be able to cut the hose down real short - but will see how it goes. This should get me through my next hike ok.
I realise that if you don't have one of these packs this will most likely be double dutch to you. These are weird packs that have some good design points, but some things simply don't make much sense (to me). Obviously Aarn know what they are doing, and as they said in one email to me "There is a reason for everything on our packs,...", but frankly a lot of the stuff is puzzling.
If anyone has any out of left field ideas, would LOVE to hear about them!
The bladders have a pull up top and you don't have to take them out of the pockets like a drink bottle.