Make a Lightweight Chest Pack Pouch (140g / £6)

I've been thinking about how to carry weight efficiently and conveniently. I've also been thinking about how to find pieces of kit that can be adapted to do what I want without much effort. This project is one such idea.

In fact the idea of a chest pouch into which I can dump the essentials such as map, compass, gps, phone and snacks has worked so well that after doing this version I did a new one from scratch that was half the weight and had more features.

The Chest Pouch has proved to be one of the most useful projects I have ever done. It means that my pockets are empty of junk and everything I need on a walk is close to hand.

The concept is very simple - go and find a very cheap child's backpack and convert it into something that you can use. Make sure you ask the child for permission....

This is one project that could easily be sewn by hand or not sewn at all!!!!!

With the pack that I bought I have replaced the front-pocket with a pouch. I've also sewn on a strip of webbing and bar-tacked it at 1.5" intervals (MOLLE compatible). I use the webbing to tie on things like Map, Compass and GPS so that they can never fall out and be lost.

With the steps that I outline here I am producing a pack that could also be placed on a belt as well (another project).

If you did not want to do a front pocket you could just leave most of the backpack intact. The original backpack weighed about 200g and removing the front pouch and all the straps cut that in half. The extra straps and buckles then brought the weight up to 140g.

I did do the same thing to a 10L child's pack but in the field I found the 5L size to be much more usable.

Materials

• 1 Cheap child's backpack - 5L or 10L. Blacks and Gelert (in the UK) both produce children's backpacks in simple colours. They can often be found on sale for £5 or under. Remember, cheaper tends to mean lighter and simpler - which is just what's wanted.
• Two Detachable 25mm buckles (Oddities). These have a slot cut into them so that they can be attached/removed from pack webbing. If you cannot find them or your pack does not have the 25mm webbing to allow them to be used then you can of course just sew ordinary female buckles straight onto your pack's shoulder pads.
• Some scrap PU-coated Nylon (optional for the pocket)

Deconstruction

1. Cut the handle in half to create two equal-length pieces of webbing).

2. Completely remove the shoulder straps by cutting them very close to the seam at the top and the bottom so that you now have a big pouch with two rabbit-ears.

3. If you are going to sew your own pocket on the front then you should unpick the surface-mounted front-pocket on the pack.

4. If you are going for a professional finish then unpick the fully-exposed front panel as well.

Construction

1. Fold the webbing fragments away from each other and bar-tack them through or near the seam to produce two loops (see finished project).

You might want to use these stubs for attaching webbing instead. I wanted to be able to use this pouch on a belt and so wanted detachable straps.

2. Cut 8cm of webbing (from the straps) and use it to sew a loop onto the bottom and centre of the pouch's rear panel. This will be used for anchoring a belt loop. A belt loop stops the pouch bouncing around.

3. EITHER sew some webbing (from the straps you have cut off) onto the 'rabbit ears' OR make up some straps as shown here by sewing 20cm of para cord onto 13cm of 25mm webbing.

The buckle is secured by using two rows of bar-tacks. The para-cord has been folded to form a loop and then the open ends of the loop have been bar-tacked onto the webbing (with the tacks running in-line with the cord and then the webbing has been folded over the cord and stitched through a few times to tidy it up. (There is a knot in my cord to reduce the length).

The paracord loops can be fed through the rabbit-ear loops on the pack to create a lanyard-style of attachment.

The slit cut into the buckle allows the buckle to be slipped through the 25mm webbing that is attached to most modern packs.

4. Using a fragment of the cut-off shoulder strap webbing (or a piece of para-cord) create a loop that looks like (below). The loop should be big enough so that it will fit through your pack belt when you are wearing the pack and the chest pouch. Mine was about 20cm. It is shown threaded through the bottom loop.

When you wear the pouch like this it means that it is still very easy to remove your pack - one click on the QR pouch buckle will cause it to fall from the shoulder strap and when you unclip your belt it will also detach. Very convenient.

Construction - Patch Pocket (easy)

This is the easiest way to add a pouch to the front of your pack - you sew it as if it were a patch pocket.

1. Cut your piece of PU Nylon or SilNylon to be slightly shorter than the pack and as wide. Use the pack as your pattern. In the top photo you can see that the pouch is around 8cm shorter than the pack.

2. Either fold and hem or produce a rolled hem on the top edge.

3. Fold over the edges of the fabric and stitch straight onto the front outside of the pouch - just like a patch-pocket.

Construction - Integral Pocket (moderate)

1. and 2. as above.

3. Carefully unpick the front panel (and probably remove the seam tape as well).

4. Place the PU Nylon in position onto the front panel and tack in place at the top and the bottom (this will make life easier).

5. Resew the panel into the pack so that the pocket is now also part of the pack.

Construction - Lanyard Anchor

On the top pouch I have sewn a strip of webbing that is the width of the pack and is bar-tacked at 1.5" intervals.

Going Further

Here is a 10L version of the same pouch. The donor was a larger gelert pouch an I've put a mesh bullfrog pocket on the front of the pack.

In the Field

The chest pouch has proven to be a great success. It only takes a litre or so of water to make a big difference to the balance of the pack. It now forms a part of my standard hiking setup - but with a lighter version.