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Can anyone post up pics of their granit gear flatbed in action?My hunting partner is looking at a new pack so I'm doing a little looking for him.
Thanks Koot

I have a few pictures from this past fall of mine loaded up - I will try to post them tonight.

I can say for now, that I would be overloaded long before the pack ever was. If I can carry it, the pack itself will have no problems with it.

Look for flatbed and Mtn_Hunter's posts and he has a pic of it loaded up. IIRC it was MtnHunter though it might have been brad as well.

Try looking under the backpacking section with this in the search +flatbed +http

That should bring up any photo or linked website that also has the word flatbed in the thread.

There are a couple pictures of the Flatbed in an article I wrote in Successful Hunter. It starts on page 9 of the partial pdf. http://www.riflemagazine.com/magazine/PDF/sh37partial.pdf

I can email other pictures to you if you like.

Koot, here's 80lbs of elk meat in mine:



Only pic I have, hope it helps.

Koot, here are a few of my flatbed in use this year:

1. Loaded up with 120 pounds - an entire whitetail in quarters, and all my "day" gear




2. 80 pounds of muley hindquarters and backstraps




3. How I set it up for a quick backpacking trip this sumer. I used a light Seal Line drybag - one of the oval shaped ones, it worked beter than the more typical cylinder shape. A member's post on here gave me this idea, I don't remember who it was though. On the top I strapped on the lid from my gregory pack for commonly accessed bits




4.Another photo of above:

awesome,thanks guys.Looks like a good pack.
Ed T ,I forgot about the succesfull hunter artical,I have it around here someplace.A good read by the way!
Koot

KevinB,

What size seal line bag do you use with your pack?

thx --

Hi chizelhead,

The one in the photos is the light weight 60 litre (~3900 cubic inches) "storm sack",; that is their largest size (I think) and it has the added bonus of being oval, so it fits in the pack better.

[url=http://www.seallinegear.com/dry_bags.asp?Action=StormSack&Category=DryBags][/url]

Sea to Summit makes some even nicer lightweight sacks and they have a wider selection, including a few larger bags.

I'm sure I could easily fit a 100 litre (or bigger) dry sac in there, the 60 litre fit nicely but there was a LOT of room for the pack to expand.
The only negative about the Flatbed, for me anyways, is the lack of an easy way to rig up an easily accesible top lid or pocket for carrying smaller stuff - like a small spotter. I strap a small daypack with side pockets into it when day-hunting, but the Flatbed's compression straps make using them difficult. Something like the MR Lid would be the cat's meow, but I don't think it would hook on very well.

Just another thought is a Kifaru Longhunter Hauler. It has a small top pouch for little items and water bladder.

Thanks for the reply KevinB. The 65 liter Big River Dry Bag in mustard looks nice. I currently use a couple of OR dry bags stacked, but this looks like a better setup. They do have a 90 liter bag that weighs 4.4 ozs, but I'd worry about ripping it.

Here is a pic of a S2S Big River Bag ...

Good photo hmt, that's one of the ones that got me thinking about oval shaped light drybags for this pack, I think EdT described something similar IIRC.

anybody know where I can fiend one of these in Canada?

Those Big River bags look like the ticket. Twice as heavy duty as their regular bags. I was concerned with the light bags holding up through the brush. Thanks for the heads up I hadn't seen them before.

TK

Hi Koot,

I had to order it in through Valhalla Pure in Kamloops, but probably any other Granite Gear dealer could get their hands on one. I don't know of anyone in Canada that carries them in their regular store stock.

I just noticed you are in BC, if you are near Kamloops or ever passing through you are welcome to stop by and try it out.