Duluth style packs

[Glenn MacGrady]

I love my Duluth packs!

Pseudonym, I'd like to offer a belated welcome to site membership! Feel free to ask any questions and to post messages, photos and videos in our many forums. Please read Welcome to CanoeTripping and Site Rules!

That's an extremely informative second post with interesting pictures. Thanks so much. We look forward to your participation in our canoe community.

 

[Robin]

I love my Duluth packs!

Me too, Welcome.
I like your system, while I have never used a pack basket in my DP's, I appreciate your post and explanation. Thanks, good stuff.

 

[Pseudonym]

Thanks to you both, Robin and Glenn! I'm glad to be apart of the forum and have already learned a lot in perusing its pages.

 

[lowangle al]

I think the word "ears" is being used in two different ways re Duluth Packs.

Perhaps what Patrick is calling compression straps are not typically called ears. And, no, they aren't meant to hang outside the pack. They are meant to be lashed together, if necessary, to keep stuff from falling out of the pack when you have other items, like a tent, stuffed on top of those compression flaps but under the big "overflap" (not sure of the technical name for that either).

The corners of the buckled down overflap are called "ears" by some people, and you can lift the entire pack out of the canoe using these two ears, functioning like handles, instead of trying to lift by the leather back straps or single top strap (if there is one of those).

The top left and right corners of the overflap in this picture are what some call ears, perhaps because they project sideways out from the body of the pack when it is full:

View attachment 133351
On edit: I should add that if I want to move my Duluth Pack around in camp when it is unbuckled with the overflap open, I often lift the pack by the compression flap-

Glenn’s post above was from earlier in the thread talking about the flaps on the packs and their use. While the intended use may be to securely close the pack, they are also used to more easily lift and load them. Here is an illustration from Cliff Jacobsons “Expedition Canoeing” describing how he uses them.