Hi everyone,

I wanted to do a quick review of the CCS barrel pack. We took it out on its maiden voyage in June out of Sawbill and basecamped on Phoebe. This is my first CCS pack but I had heard nothing but good things here and one of my buddies has a portage pack and loves it so I was aware of their commitment to quality. Let me say it holds true for this thing. Very well constructed and should last a long time. From personal experience, I can really only compare it to my Granite Gear Quetico pack. Not the fairest of comparisons, I know, but I definitely prefer the harness on my Quetico to this. The straps are just a bit sturdier (I don’t know if that’s the right word) and tightening everything up is smoother too. Don’t take that as a bash on the barrel pack. It’s freaking great. I just prefer the harness on the Q.

The barrel itself was a heavy sucker. All told, it was about 65lbs with the barrel, food and pack. We determined this using the unscientific “step on scale, weigh yourself, get off, put on pack and step back on scale” method. So maybe in reality it was heavier, maybe it was lighter. Anyway, even though she was heavy, the pack held really strong and carried well given the load. We double portage so there was no concern about how we’d make it work with one trip. On the 285 rod portage from Beth to Grace, we had 2 guys split the distance with it so it was manageable.

In terms of getting it in and out of the canoe, it was kind of a pain in the butt. However, that was entirely due to the weight of the barrel and not the pack. The pack actually made this process as helpful as possible. The loops at the top and bottom made getting it out of the canoe so much easier. If we were stuck with just the shoulder straps, it would have been much more difficult. We kept it in the canoe I was in (a 2 man) and it easily fit with my Quetico, small backpack and my paddling partner’s Duluth pack (see pic)

My only concern is that over time, taking the barrel off your shoulders and putting it down hard could wear a hole in the bottom of the pack. It's difficult to avoid setting it down hard because it's so heavy and after a portage all you want is the darn thing off your shoulders. I might add a piece of foam to the bottom to minimize this. However, I’m only able to get out once every couple years so it’s not like I really have to worry about it. For frequent trippers, I think adding some foam would be a good idea.

Overall, if you’re a barrel user (can’t tell you how happy I am to have gone this route, btw. to heck with hanging, but that’s a thread for another day) definitely pick yourself up one of these. The new blue one looked great as well and I’m sure the extra pockets are nice but I felt the original green one was more than sufficient for our needs.

9th

Thanks for the review, 9th. I have the same harness, but have never carried that much weight. I have often carried the barrel on top of my portage pack. Seems to ride easily, and the location of the loop handles makes this pretty easy to use.

I also found the barrel pack very well constructed and designed.