canoe maker

Canoe Pack Basket - Part 3

I've been checking out various pack basket harness designs on the net. Most involve cotton webbing, but I wanted to use leather and make it adjustable. With a great sale at my local leather supply shop (latigo straps & buckles at 50% off) I tried my hand at making an adjustable harness held together with copper rivets left over from the canvas pack project.

It involved making a short horizontal belt strap with buckle that encircles the basket right below the rim. Two more short belt-like pieces were loop riveted together and slipped on and the longer backpack strap pieces similarly measured and hung from the main horizontal belt...


Assembled Leather Harness
Here are some shots with the harness all rigged up...






Success! I've already used the basket to lug around awkward tools and junk back to the locker room. It'll have to wait until we're up north again to use in the canoe, but I can see a use for this for day trips; harvesting roots and bark in the bush, or even for winter snowshoeing.