The USMC FILBE gear lately has been heavily on my mind and in my interests. Thanks to the most recent of events in the theaters of war, most of the surplus gear is not available. As discussed in the previous post The End of Milsurp? things are not looking good.
In short, this meant sort of taking consideration in US milsurp. After some homework I started to check out a lot of the USMC stuff. Mostly because of availability. The prices seemed erratic but I did manage to swoop some deals. Which is sort of why I am writing this post specifically.
What happened was I stumbled on a listing for DAMAGED grade packs. Did I need a pack? Well, no not really. But for the prices I could find them I figured why not. I ordered two. Can always make them grab and go packs or give them away as gifts to friends that like this sort of thing.
The FILBE gear or Family of Improved Load Bearing Equipment seems to have the quality and options I would find in very expensive civilian varieties. I am looking directly at you Mystery Ranch. The assault pack also is sized right to get a good feel at 35L or so without investing a lot more in a bigger FILBE main pack option.
Okay, so why bother with a damaged pack? The price I couldn't pass up. At under $30 for a (mostly intact) salvageable backpack, it seems insane. At the worst I figured I could fix them both and use them. Or... I could make one decent one from the parts of two. At this price its still cheaper than the grade 3 options direct from a seller. Because after the minimal research I did, some grade 3 bags would come in a damaged grade anyways more than likely. Holes would still need to be patched and fixed regardless. And some packs labeled as VERY GOOD condition by sellers came in awful condition more than once. I waited for my large order to arrive. And this is what I got.
The bags I got were shredded.
They were barely holding together. Both of the bags I had came in similar condition. Damaged listings stated that the bags could have 6+ inch holes in them. Almost always caused by a stiff plastic backer insert to keep the bag rigid. Its hard to tell but the bags were ripped all the way nearly across in multiple places.
When they came I seen how bad the damage was and seriously considered not even messing with them. There was just not enough material to just sew it back and it would work. Rips were too close to the zippers or too close to other parts to stitch and be done.
"This is beyond my skill set for basic repairs" I told myself. But I have them and I think I should at least try to mend them to make them simply usable.
You will need some needle and thread, patience, and some E6000 glue and some bondex peel and stick patches.
The process is simple. You stitch up what you can with what material you have to work with. Restitch it and then stick some of the bondex patch material on the back side of the repaired area, then glue it all into place with the E6000. Add patches to the areas needing more support, and restitch it. I used the glue even on the exposed stitching to hopefully reinforce the repair more. It takes 24 hours to dry the glue, and 72 hours to fully cure. So be patient. This so far seems to work. Its ugly as shit but the bag is functional for now.
Here is the repair completed.
The bag will never hold 50 pounds for long hauls anymore. But it can be used for various things like a day hike bag or GHB. I plan to use it for a trunker bag so it should work perfect.
So why bother doing this sort of repair? If you have really good sewing and repair skills its a great way to repurpose these war torn USMC packs. Or if you want to learn how to make major repairs its a great canvas for that too. The bags are cheap for now so its a decent way to either cannibalize some gear for other things or to just have a project to work on.
Since I had to sort of wing this and didn't see a video on how to even begin this project I decided to try and make a post to hopefully help someone else in the same situation I was in.
Note: this bag NEEDS rigidity! It shouldn't have a plastic backer put back inside of it after a repair to this degree! I made some cardboard inserts and just put duct tape on them and it seems to work pretty good for the time being. These cardboard inserts will no longer rub on the already compromised areas I had to fix. This is a major fatal flaw of the rough use bags. Yes, you need rigidity. No, you don't want it ripping huge gaping holes in your gear.
So what do you think? It turned out alright in the end. If Frankenstein had an assault pack, he would have one like this probably.
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