View Full Version : Bear Vault/GoLite Jam2
Back when I lived in California, I carried my BV500 on a couple short trips in Yosemite and in the San Gorgonio Wilderness. My technique was basically to shove it down into the bottom of the Jam2. Since it took up so much of the pack's volume, I sometimes filled whatever room wasn't occupied with food with other small items that could fit.
Has anyone here found any better way to deal with this bulky item in the Jam2 when traveling in areas where it is "required"? Thanks for the help.
I have a Jam2 but don't need a bear vault. I've been thinking about modifying my Jam2 though so I've been looking at it quite closely lately, like yesterday. I store a huge bluefoam pad in my Jam2, so I agree that volume isn't the issue. It's more a matter of akwardness.
1. There are some interesting loops and stuff on the bottom, but I don't think they would help as the Jam2 alread rides low enough.
2. The very bottom of the pack is a bit less room than a little farther up, so maybe load something in the very bottom first, and shape it to accept the roundness of your bear vault.
3. The back pouch isn't as roomy as it looks once you fill the main pack really well. You might gain some space and accessibility and a little weight by cutting the wall between the back pouch and the main compartment. What do you have to lose? $100. OK then, what do I have to lose. It's your pack. :D
4. While you are destroying your pack before I destroy mine, you might try cutting and adding a vertical zipper in the top of the pouch, to make the entrance to the pack more expandable. If you are very good at sewing you migh be able to keep it all waterproof, even when its unzipped, like the neck of those old windbreakers.
Anyhow, let me know how it works out. ;)
Seriously, I think you want to carry the Bear vault in the small of your back. Does that sound about right? That leaves a little bit of room below that, in the area where your hip belt attaches, and a fair amount of space above that. Maybe start by figuring out how much space and what you want to store below, and how much space and what you want to store above, and then how much room is left in that day pouch, and what it might do the the shape and strength and accessibility of the pack if you remove the wall between the compartments.
Also, have you thought about removing that mesh sock for tent poles? I use it now and then for weird things, including tent poles, and it does give some rigidity when I don't have my blue foam tube in there so I haven't yet. Thinking about it though because I almost always have a blue foam pad of some sort even on day hikes. Probably weighs nothing though.
I am not sure if the front straps and chest strap are exactly what I like. Thinking about water bottles there also. I like the hip belt. It seems like just enough. Don't really like reaching back to the side pouches for water but I like them there. In winter my hatchet goes on one side, and my daughters bow and arrows sometimes goes on the sides also.
Those side straps aren't really neccessary the way I pack my pack but they are handy for hold stuff on the sides, and they might be needed for strength if I ever cut that wall away. I've even thought of going to the extreme of cutting the whole top half of the pack off above the shoulder straps and above the back pouch. Then it would be like an open bucket, but I could wrap everything up in my bivy sack anyway. Too radical for a $100 pack though, I think, and its way too wet around here. One of my favourite features of the Jam2 is how waterproof it is.
Grumpy Ol' Pops
10-26-2008, 14:03
Back when I lived in California, I carried my BV500 on a couple short trips in Yosemite and in the San Gorgonio Wilderness. My technique was basically to shove it down into the bottom of the Jam2. Since it took up so much of the pack's volume, I sometimes filled whatever room wasn't occupied with food with other small items that could fit.
Has anyone here found any better way to deal with this bulky item in the Jam2 when traveling in areas where it is "required"? Thanks for the help.
I usually stuff my down sleeping bag into the very bottom of the backpack first, then my BV 450 goes on top of that. This usually places the BV just where I want the lumbar support. Generally, I put something softer, like a shirt or sweater, on the backside of the BV, next to the backpack wall. As you say, I stuff any smaller items into the voids created by the curved sides of the BV to fill up as much air space as possible. The softer sweatshirt cushions the hard-sided BV from direct contact with my back.