Large eight litre backpack side pouch with rudimentary internal organization and external compression strap loops.
Really nothing too fancy, but just what you need from a side pouch on your backpack. The zipper is covered for added water repellency and protection from abrasion and dirt. The vertical webbing on the front keeps the compression straps of your backpack neatly in place over the pouch, allowing them to properly compress the pouch as well. These can also be used as attachment points for bungee cords, carabiners and stuff like that.
A 25 mm webbing loop and D-ring on the top of the rear interior wall allow you to secure small and important stuff, the flat rear compartment offers rudimentary organization for smaller stuff. The bottom and bottom halves of the sides are lined with 210D polyamide for added abrasion resistance. A grommet offers drainage of any water that may seep into the pouch.
PALS attachment
The rear features our standard PALS attachment webbing system with tuck tabs. The middlemost horizontal webbing rows were eliminated as they didn’t really do anything besides add weight. We aren’t a ultralight gear manufacturer, but even we don’t like unnecessary weight.
The two vertical attachment straps leave a approx. 9 cm wide gap between them, this allows you to carry stuff such as axes, fishing poles etc. stuffed down behind the pouch.
Optimal attachment requires a width of four channels and a height of seven (min. six) rows of PALS webbing. Your packs side compression straps will, when tightened down, eliminate any movement of the pouch and its contents.
Of our own packs we recommend the 8L side pouch to be used only on the Jääkäri XL or Kantamus 60L. Although not recommended you can attach it to smaller packs with an absolute minimum of five rows of PALS webbing on the sides (Jääkäri M, L or Kantamus 40L for example), this is done by attaching the pouch one step higher and accepting that the bottom will be a bit floppy.
Exemplary use cases
With a capacity of eight litres this is clearly a larger side pouch, perhaps best used on large and tall backpacks of 60-100+ litres. Here are some examples of what you can fit in one of these:
1) A large tarp, hammock and accessories
2) A hammock and underquilt
3) A lightweight puffy jacket and trousers or rainwear
4) A Trangia 27-series stove, fuel, water and lots of 5) stuff to cook
5) A Jetboil stove, a gas cartridge, water and lots of stuff to cook
6) Over 24h worth of rations and snacks
7) Nearly a weeks worth of spare underwear, mid layers and socks
