Make Your Own Duluth Pack

A Duluth Pack is a specialized backpack mostly used in the canoe community.  It's a simple, no frills pack that has a big single compartment.  They lay flat in the bottom of the canoe for expeditions.

With our upcoming summer BWCA trip, I wanted a few more Duluth Packs for the 3 kids.  However, they are crazy expensive.  They range anywhere from $150 to over $500.  I thought this was absolutely crazy, so I made my own for about $7.

I started with some water resistant 600 denier canvas for $5.49 per yard.  My other expense was a $1.60 worth of a "tension lock tri-glide" strap buckles.  That is the buckle that allows adjustment on the shoulder strap system.  The rest of my materials and parts were scavenged off old laptop bags that were being thrown away.

Here's the finished product modeled by Kiddo #1 standing in front of my big BWCA map.  This pack is 22 inches tall, 14 inches wide, and 7 inches fat.

It has a big flap cover that is cinched down with side release buckles.

I reinforced all those cinch straps with extra fabric.  

The shoulder straps are old straps from a laptop bag.

They work perfectly for this new application.

The inside of the bag is just single, big compartment.  Here I have just a single sleeping pad and one uncompressed sleeping bag to fill up the volume for pictures.

I hope to make 2 more packs for the other 2 kids.  The next pack will probably have a few design tweaks such as a taller, fold-able collar (like a cereal box top) and maybe some extra pouches on the side with zippers.

I'm no sewing expert by any means.  This is my first sewing project, and I learned a ton.  Cutting fabric in a straight line, and sewing squishy fabric in a straight line, and many other things were at the top of the learning list.  That, plus learning how to pump this old Singer treadle sewing machine slowly and consistently.