So I’m taking my show on the road this weekend. Going to a convention to meet the Alabama Ghostbusters.
Past experience has shown my 18 pound pack will start bruising my shoulders after around 3 hours of wearing it. I’ve had days where I wore it out on a Halloween party for as many as six hours.
This weekend, my worry is that I’ll be wearing it all day, and then after a short dinner break, I’ll have it on into the night at an 80’s party.
That’s a long time for scratchy nylon shoulder straps to be digging in.
Other than lightening my load (It’s a scratch pack with lots of plywood so that’s not happening in the next few days), what are some ideas you’ve used to make your pack more comfortable?
So far all I’ve done is added pipe insulation to the top bar of the alice frame.
My main concern is the shoulder straps themselves really digging in after 3 hours. What can I do to those to make em comfy? I don’t mind departing from screen accuracy to make it a bit more comfortable.
My initial thoughts are to tie wrap pipe insulation to the inside of the straps for a foamy contact point. I’ve also considered covering the straps in soft black or dark green cotten t-shirt stuffed with foam or cotton.
How tight do you have the waist strap? If you put the waist strap on your hips so the shoulder pads lift off your shoulders just a hair, then tighten the waist strap up it should move a lot of the weight from your shoulder to your hips.
What style of straps are they? My pack weighs about 25 pounds and I have LC-1 straps. They KILL my shoulders after a couple of hours. I can definitely see why they changed the design.
This problem arises when you have uneven weight distribution, in this case, all the weight is on your back. One solution, in order to even things out would be to add weight to the front, equalizing the load. I’d recommend suspending two large bags of sand from your alice pack straps, at about chest level.
You know what might help? Working your neck & shoulders out (though it might be too late if you have this event hitting soon).
I’m 210 pounds, 6 feet, with ok muscle tone. Before I even had my pack I would (amongst other exercises) do neck workouts with two 30 lb weights where I’d lift both arms using mainly my neck and shoulder muscles. I’d lift out with both arms to my sides- away from my bodyi and up to my shoulders, doing maybe 20 reps a set. I built these up to fight off tension headaches and to, you know, try and look nicer.
When I finally got my pack I hadn’t even realized that my neck and shoulders had their own natural “padding.” Maybe doing some lifts twice/three times a week could go a long way?
I like the “grow some boobs” solution though. I’ll just go ahead and get breast implants and that should take care of it…
Austin, I’m not sure about the model number on my straps. They are black and I had bought them brand new, but they have this hard scratchy nylon over the shoulder pads. Here’s a reference pic, maybe you can tell me which model they are…I would describe them as model “sucks” undersubcategory “painful.” IIRC I got them because they were the only ones left in the surplus store that would work with the ALICE frame I have and I didn’t have time to go 2 towns over to the other surplus store. One of these days I’ll replace em but I have too many modifications to make before Friday to worry about better straps. That’s why I’m hoping for some quick fix.
The green ones most of you are using look way more comfy…
In my humble opinion I don’t think that they’re upside down, however the shoulder pads look a little low. They’re shoudler pads, not chest pads.
Also, it’s my understanding that genuine ALICE straps don’t come in black… Maybe they’re mil-spec, which aren’t as good as real ones. Real ALICE straps would be a investment at this point!
EDIT: 4 days would be a little short indeed. Even eBay would be a little too long. Another friendly advice: if it’s new, it’s probably mil-spec. Genuine straps are usually used.
Yeah, definitely tighten those bad boys up toward the top. That should help considerably. And those are after market straps, so cheaply made and crappy padding. If you can find yourself a set that look like those in green, you’re gold. Just make sure on the underside of the straps there’s writing (should say something along the lines of "LC-2 Left/Right Shoulder. And look carefully as this writing tends to fade easy), those are the real deal. Otherwise you’re getting another set of after market straps.
Ya, I’ve always suspected they were crappy non-military issue straps. I kinda like that they’re black because my costume has no canvas in it. Black elbow pads, black belt, black straps, It’s all grey/olive and black, so these straps matched better, but I payed for it in comfort.
I’ll definately shorten them up on the top end and see if that helps. I still think they’re upside down though! But I’m so strapped (Pun intended) for time I dont’ know if I’ll be able to swap em over. I need every minute of free time I have if I’m gonna upgrade all the stuff I just got.
For Friday, with a new baby in the house, I still have to install gun knobs, replace banjos with a potential split in my wooden ears/guntips to deal with, replace my spectra ribbon clamps, repaint my bumper, replace my 4 power supplies’ batteries, sew a hose connector onto my uniform, and size and place a snap on my new trap holder…OH, and I have to fix the damage to my trap from my last outing. That’ll involve some electrical work and replacing broken parts…UGH…
I think this was mentioned earlier, but the weight of your pack should be on your kidney straps and not your shoulder straps. I went backpacking at the Philmont Scout ranch when I was 15 and had to carry a 60 lbm pack, and though my pack was more modern it had a kidney strap that puts the weight on your waist. In fact, you were not allowed on the trail of your pack did not sit on your waist.
Long story short, to wear a pack properly (camping or proton) the shoulder straps are only used for stability and not for load bearing.
My pack is a beast on my shoulders, its mostly wood and very heavy, last halloween, my shoulders were visably swollen from 7 hours continual wear. I have my straps adjusted and its not uncomfortable to begin with, just after a few hours, man you feel it. I was kinda thinking of wearing something under my flightsuit, like shoulder pads or something, obviously not NFL style because that’d look redonkulous but something to that effect, cushion it somewhat that way.
