Osprey Aura 65: removing inner shelf?

[Lupe]

Hi all,
My first post here asking for some opinions...

I have an Osprey Aura 65 pack. Before purchasing, I had used a friends Atmos 50 (men's version of same pack in a smaller volume). I decided that the weight penalty between the 50 and the 65 wasn't that big, and that I would prefer having the extra space to make the pack easier to use for longer stretches (more food) and/or cold weather backpacking (more/bulkier gear). As a side note, I also have nerve trouble that affects one shoulder and arm, and so this may seem silly, but I have trouble stuffing things like a sleeping bag into a tiny sack, so I would rather be able to not have to stuff things as tight as possible in general. In other words, I went with the larger size as much for ease of packing, not because of wanting to bring more "stuff" as I'm pretty motivated to carry a what I would consider a light load, although not ultra-lite.

Okay - that was more background than I intended to give, so let's get to my question...

When I ordered the pack, I actually had not realized the 65 would have a separate bottom front sleeping bag compartment (the 50 did not - it's just top loading). The thing is, I can't seem to find a good reason to use this separate zippered entry, and even if I did, there are extra straps and fabric inside the pack that form a "shelf" of sorts above that compartment.

I'd just as soon treat the bag as if it's just a top loader, as I want to use a trash compactor sack as a bag liner. If I leave the separate compartments, then it seems I would need to use 2 bags to protect my gear - one for the lower area and another one for the top area, and that seems like a waste.

I could just unbuckle the flap and leave it aside, but it seems like a good deal of material plus straps and buckles, so I'm tempted to just cut it all out. I can still use that lower zipper entry, but now I'm not carrying the extra weight of that fabric and straps.

Any thoughts? Is there something wonderful and useful about that inner shelf that I just don't know about which will cause me to regret removing it? FYI, unfortunately it's sewn in there...it would be a lot easier if I could just remove it temporarily!

Many thanks, and I hope it's not a terribly silly question!

[Joey C]

I cut the "shelf" out of my Atmos 65. No big deal.

[tuswm]

I cut the "shelf" out of my Atmos 65. No big deal.

yea I cut a full pound of junk off my bag. That is the part that I have never once missed.

[skybrew]

i pack my sleeping stuff down there so i can quickly access my fly/footprint/tent when setting up in rain w/o opening the rest of the pack. everything stays dry that i want dry. also have sleeping bag in dry compression sack down there. just my $0.02, ymmv. also keeps the 'wet' stuff on pack bottom when breaking camp in the rain...

decided i like this config based on suggestions from other WBers for setting up tent in the rain and my subsequent trials/errors while practicing * in the rain *.