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Want to turn a cheap canvas haversack into rugged, trail-ready gear? In this video, I share simple DIY modifications that transform a budget haversack into durable, functional equipment for bushcraft, camping, hiking, and survival. These upgrades are low-cost, beginner-friendly, and perfect for anyone looking to improve their outdoor gear without breaking the bank.
I’ll walk you through step-by-step gear hacks to make your haversack stronger, more comfortable, and more organized—so it’s ready for your next adventure. Whether you’re heading into the woods, exploring the backcountry, or building your bushcraft kit, these tips will help you get the most out of your pack. #DIYGear #CanvasHaversack #CampingGear #OutdoorDIY #HikingGear #BudgetBushcraft #SurvivalGear
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0:03
[Music]
0:08
All right. Today we are doing something
0:11
kind of fun and different.
0:21
This is a Rothco canvas messenger bag
0:24
that I got off of eBay.
0:28
And we are going to be
0:32
adding some Otter wax to it and wax this
0:35
whole bag.
0:37
And if you're interested in learning
0:38
about this,
0:40
stick around cuz we're going to do it
0:41
together.
0:50
So, it's a super bright and sunny day
0:52
today. Nice and warm. And it's a really
0:54
good day to do this waxing project
0:55
because I can set the bag out and I've
0:58
been letting it warm up today in the sun
1:02
so the fabric get gets good and warm
1:04
because you want the the fabric to be
1:05
warm when you're adding this this wax or
1:07
this dressing. And then I've had the can
1:10
of this Otter wax um sitting out here as
1:14
well. So, it's getting warm, but I am
1:16
going to take this inside and do a
1:19
double boiler kind of thing where I set
1:21
this in a pan of hot water and let that
1:22
warm up. So, this gets liquefied more.
1:25
Then, we're going to come out here and
1:26
add it to the messenger bag. So, the
1:30
reason I'm doing this is um a buddy
1:34
online um shared with me a video link of
1:37
someone who took a Rothco messenger bag,
1:40
waxed it, and has been using it as their
1:42
EDC bag. And I really like the look of
1:44
the bag. Um it was pretty cool. And I
1:47
lucked out and I found like a brand new
1:51
one in Vietnam tiger stripe or just
1:54
tiger stripe camo. And I don't think
1:56
they make that color anymore. I think
1:58
that's been discontinued because the
2:00
ones I've seen online are all brown and
2:02
green. So I'm pretty fortunate to find
2:05
this camo one, but uh it's just canvas.
2:10
So it's not treated in any way and it's
2:13
going to soak up water. And of course,
2:15
canvas is very loose material,
2:18
kind of floppy. So, I'm hoping the wax
2:21
will stiffen it up a little bit, but
2:22
also give it some water resistance so I
2:23
can actually use this as a bushcraft
2:27
habat. So, that's what we're going to do
2:28
today.
2:31
So, this Otter Wax fabric dressing um is
2:36
not the cheapest stuff in the world.
2:37
This is I think this little can was like
2:39
over $9 on Amazon. Um, and there's a
2:43
bigger can, but that was even more
2:44
expensive, and I don't think I'm going
2:45
to need that much for that one project.
2:48
But, as you can see,
2:53
it's it's very waxy. So, I need to
2:56
loosen this up. So, we're going to put
2:58
this in the water
3:01
and let that heat up.
3:05
And then hopefully what's going to
3:06
happen is that's going to get liquefied.
3:08
And then I have this little lintfree
3:12
rag that I'm going to apply the wax
3:15
with. So, we'll dunk that, rub that in,
3:18
and then take a hair dryer and blow it
3:20
um to add more heat to get it to soak
3:22
into the fabric. And then let that set
3:24
up for about 24 hours. And then we
3:28
should be good to go. But I this is
3:30
something I've never done before.
3:32
And if actually, if you go on the Otter
3:35
Wax website, there was a short tutorial
3:37
on how to do it. very simple process,
3:40
but you can of course make this mixture
3:42
yourself with beeswax and um some
3:45
canning wax and then mixing that. But I
3:49
didn't want to go through all that
3:50
rigger. I just wanted to buy this stuff
3:52
and apply it. I know this is good stuff.
3:54
Um, I've used it um on I've used outer
3:56
wax on leather.
4:10
So, I'm on my front porch, which
4:13
unfortunately has a lot of traffic
4:15
through town. It's a little noisy, but
4:18
it's shaded
4:22
and it's comfortable place to to do
4:24
this.
4:34
This is soaking in really easily.
4:45
And once I get this done, I'm going to
4:46
get the hair dryer and
4:51
melt it in even more.
4:54
So, I'm starting to get some on the
4:55
strap. Maybe that's not a big big deal,
4:58
but
5:00
that strap hidden
6:41
Well,
6:52
here it is all waxed up. And I'm going
6:56
to let this sit out in the sun
6:59
for the afternoon and see if that helps
7:01
it.
7:03
I think I really need to get a heat gun.
7:05
The hair dryer got pretty hot, but it
7:07
took forever. So, I think a heat gun
7:10
would be the way to go. I just need to
7:11
find someone I know who has one.
7:15
I do not have one, but
7:20
I mean, it's in there. You can It
7:23
doesn't feel greasy.
7:26
So, once that gets soaked in, I think
7:29
we'll be off to a better start. Bag all
7:32
finished up from waxing.
7:39
And it is a nice dry matte finish. It's
7:44
not sticky. There's no residue. Now, I
7:47
didn't do a a particularly heavy
7:50
coverage with the waxing. It was
7:52
basically one coat because I wanted to
7:54
see how it goes. And when I get it out
7:56
in the field this fall, we'll try it and
8:00
see how it does with repelling water.
8:03
But, um, I'm really happy with the
8:05
outcome. I think it looks good.
8:10
There's the back of it. It's kind of
8:12
where I started. You can see it in the
8:15
seams a little bit right there.
8:20
But I got this to all melt in pretty
8:22
well. If you're interested in a bigger
8:26
hack, this might be the way to go. Um,
8:29
Rothco is still selling these, albeit
8:31
different colors, uh, but it's the same
8:33
configuration. And so you have this big
8:36
outer flap with um a couple of tie down
8:39
points right there.
8:42
And then there's Velcro
8:46
on the inside flap.
8:49
And then what it does is you got Velcro
8:52
on the pockets. Now I think there could
8:54
be more Velcro. And I actually might
8:56
modify this bag a little bit and so some
9:00
bigger pieces of Velcro so there's more
9:03
in better connection. Um I've noticed
9:06
that sometimes these things pop off
9:08
because there's really not that much
9:10
there to to hold that lid down,
9:12
especially when you get this thing
9:13
loaded out. But take a look at how much
9:16
space is inside this bag. It is huge.
9:20
Big, generous front pockets. Got my
9:24
possibles kit in there. So that's all my
9:26
fire making survival kind of stuff.
9:33
I have my notebook
9:35
for taking notes,
9:38
first aid kit,
9:48
some wipes
9:50
for clean up in the field,
9:54
and in here I've got a foam pad that I
9:57
cut down to size so it fits. Now, there
10:00
is a small zipper back pocket.
10:04
Good place for your keys and your wallet
10:06
so you don't lose them.
10:08
And then in here, it this thing is tall
10:11
enough that you can fit a 40 oz water
10:14
bottle standing up, no problem. This is
10:16
my cook kit with the 40 oz clean
10:19
canteen.
10:21
I've got
10:23
my Dominion preparedness
10:28
bag right here. This has my shelter kit
10:30
in it. So, there's a 5x8 tarp. There's
10:32
some stakes. 550 cord. All fits in there
10:36
pretty nicely.
10:38
This is my food kit. This is just an old
10:42
It's just an old Kafaru zipper pouch
10:45
that I have that has ramen in it, spork,
10:49
coffee,
10:51
energy drink, uh crackers,
10:55
snack bars, all kinds of stuff in there.
10:56
So, there's my food for the day.
10:59
And then
11:01
new piece of gear I'm going to be
11:02
testing out this fall is this is from
11:04
Ula is their um saw.
11:13
Actually won this on Instagram from
11:14
those guys. So pretty nice little saw.
11:18
From what I been hearing from other
11:20
people, it does really really well. And
11:22
then the side pockets are pretty
11:24
generous and they're actually big enough
11:26
to fit
11:29
a water bottle. There's a 40 oz clean
11:32
canteen on the outside that fits. Now
11:33
what I did is I just took some bungee
11:36
material and made a loop
11:40
to secure it. So if I want to put water
11:42
bottles on the outside of my bag, I can.
11:44
And then there is
11:48
you can see that there's actually
11:49
grommets up here. So, I ran the fi the
11:53
uh bungee cord through that and put a
11:54
cord lock on it. So, that secures it.
11:57
Here it is on the other side
12:00
as well. So, these side pockets are
12:04
very generous. Good size.
12:07
Get a lot in them. Here I've got some
12:09
gloves shoved in mine. There's also,
12:14
if you can see that,
12:18
there's a snap. So, if I wanted to snap
12:21
that pocket closed, I could.
12:24
Canteen's a little bit tight. I don't I
12:27
don't think a canteen is going to work.
12:28
But
12:35
but if you have one of these smaller
12:37
cantens like these officer
12:40
Swiss officer cantens,
12:43
they'll fit down there very nicely
12:46
or a flask or any other kind of
12:50
skinnier, smaller water bottle. And then
12:52
the other piece of ULA gear that I won
12:54
in that contest was their knife. Uh,
12:58
this thing really performed well. I took
12:59
this out camping a couple weeks ago with
13:01
some buddies and uh, did some feather
13:04
sticks and stuff around the fire and for
13:07
fire prep. It did a really nice job.
13:09
What's really interesting about this
13:10
particular knife, and this is not a
13:12
review of it yet, but um, it does have a
13:14
sharpened spine,
13:18
has a really nice profile to it, nice
13:21
and pointy. But what I really found
13:23
interesting about this is that that
13:24
handle was just so comfortable to use in
13:28
the field. So if you're looking for
13:29
something that's a little bit different
13:30
than Amora,
13:32
uh this might be the way to go. So this
13:34
is from Ula Works. Of FA Works. So it's
13:38
really kind of up to you how much stuff
13:40
you want to put in here. I mean, if you
13:42
paired this hersack with a bed roll,
13:45
you'd have an awesome kit to take out
13:50
and around the woods with. Okay,
13:52
guys. If you like this kind of content,
13:54
do me a favor and hit that like button.
13:56
Um, consider subscribing. I try to
13:58
release a video at least once a week
14:00
when I can. Always adding new stuff to
14:03
the channel.
14:05
And there's tons of content to go
14:08
through on bushcraft survival
14:10
preparedness,
14:12
building kits, modifying gear,
14:15
going on outings, all kinds of stuff.
14:19
And as always, thanks for watching and
14:21
we will see you next time on The
14:23
Prepared Wanderer.