Polish Puma Camo Rucksack

I don’t know about you but I personally can’t resist a bargain, looking for a small rucksack I came across this, the Polish Military Rucksack on ebay for around £7. 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_kw=polish+rucksack

I was looking for something that could pack up small and be used as a day bag.

Thanks to the way the bag was put together it folds up to about the size of an A4 sheet about 3 inches thick. The bag is mostly made from a fabric type material so folds fairly easily apart from the base which is poly tarp type of material, unfortunately this also means that the bag is not waterproof rather the opposite will suck up water like a sponge, I know that most bags of today’s age are not water proof but at least with a canvas or nylon bag there as an element of water resistance and it’s a shame the water proof layer didn’t go slightly further up the bag as putting it down onto some wet grass could potential leave you with a bag full of wet gear. 

 

What I did to rectify the situation was chuck in a rubble / heavy duty bin liner, as you can see by the pic the bag fits in nicely.

Unfortunately though this solution wont help from getting a wet back which leads me onto another concern I have with this bag.

If you have done your research and come across some videos or reviews you probably by now have picked up that the straps on this bag can be a bit of a pain in the side, literally! Take a look at this review I found,

http://surplusmania.weebly.com/rucksack-mania/category/polish-wz89-combat-sack

Chris does make a few useful points, the location and shape of the metal clips almost guarantees they will be rubbing on the sides of your lower back, in the pics you can see that they make a type of “V” shape and also have a curved clip all perfect for digging into the wearers side. I have used the bag a fair amount now and I don’t find this to be too much of an annoyance although I currently only use it as a day bag for shorter trips and walking to work etc, if you are into modding your equipment you could make a few alterations to the bag to ensure a comfortable fit, this could mean replacing the metal clips for a plastic alternative or a simple bit of tape around the sharp edges, it is worth noting that some people might find this more annoying than others, depending on build and what it is being used for but that the bag makes an excellent blank canvas for modding, the straps are simple as is the bag itself.

The bag is fairly small as can be seen in the pictures but has a an extra section tucked inside, two separate pull cords allow the bag to be closed in a smaller size or the extra section pulled out and the second cord tightened. The image below shows in red where the two pull cords are located. This effectively increases the back size by a 3^rd.

Once the closed with the pull cords the bag has a flap and two sets of buckles for the smaller or extended. I’m not a huge fan of buckles so have put on some modern plastic clips by attaching an extra bit of webbing I bought off of ebay onto the bottom buckle and then attaching the plastic clip to this and the existing webbing.

I only had to sew the bottom clip to the webbing an then feed through the buckle, the upper clip also feeds through the top bit of webbing, the bag now closes much easier and can be opened on the go, next step is to ty and get some compartments, any ideas?

The mod is well worth it as it can be a bit of a nightmare opening a bag with buckles especially as the bag has no internal compartments, which is a bit of a let down, even a single divider would have been nice to see but I suppose this might have led to a compromise on what could be carried.

Quality wise the bag is fairly well made, my example appears to have been issued but is still in fairly good condition, the picture below shows how most of the seems are double stitched along with a backing fabric. All in all the bag is not too bad for £7 and I would be impressed if anyone could add in a few alternatives at this price.

Summary

50 x 37x 25cm
Weight: 1.0Kg

Pros:

Folds down to a fairly compact size

Can carry a fair amount of wait

A fantastic blank canvas for mods etc

Would make a comfortable sleeping pillow

Cons:

Potentially annoying metal clips

No internal or external compartments

Water proof only on the bottom