Backpack Attachable Shoulder Bag

In this instructable, I present a way to attach a shoulder bag on top of a backpack. I did it to expand the backpack capacity a little bit and I can easily bring a shoulder bag to travel.

This is a kind of hack for the Quechua nh500 backpack. Before you begin, read through this tutorial and check if your backpack is suitable for the modifications. The critical part is where you place the carabiner. Your bag maybe doesn't have attachment points in the right places. In that case, maybe you have to do more modifications, eg. sew attachment loops.

Things you need:

• 2.5cm wide webbing, approximately 40cm
• 4 carabiners. 2 of them are heavy duty and they are as wide as the backpack shoulder strap's width.
• 4 rings. I used curtain rings and two keyrings.
• 2 plastic buckles, 2.5cm wide

With a few cm of webbing attach two rings on both sides at the back of the shoulder bag, near the top. The distance between the rings should be approximately the same as the distance between the shoulder strap's outer edge.

Leaving the shoulder bag strap to hang freely would be uncomfortable. I placed two pairs of buckles on the bottom of my side bag. The pictures show how the buckles keep the strap in place. With this solution, the bag also got a couple of mounting points by its shoulder strap.

Steps:

1. Cut a piece of webbing, approximately 14-16cm.
2. Sew one-half of the buckle on the end of the webbing.
3. put a ring on the webbing. (If you got keyrings then you can place them after the sewing work).
4. sew the other half of the buckle on the other end of the webbing.
5. Sew the webbing on the bottom corner of the bag. The ring should be near the end of the webbing, where it is closer to the back of the bag.
6. repeat it for the other side.

Now you should get four rings at the corners of the back of the bag (see the last picture). These rings will be the mounting points to the backpack.

I use the heavy-duty carabiners because if they fail the shoulderbag will hang in an awkward position. Make sure the opening of the carabiner is facing upwards.

If your backpack's shoulder strap design is different from mine, then you should find a way that the carabiners do not slip down on the straps.

You need to attach two more carabiners somewhere on the top of the sides of your backpack. These will keep your shoulder bag from swinging sideways when moving with the backpack on you.

If your backpack has a compression strap, then it is a perfect place to attach the carabiners.

This is the final step. Attach the rings to the carabiners as seen in the images.

The shoulder bag should stay firmly but not too stiff on top of the backpack.

You can place the carabiners on the shoulder bag. Then, it can be mounted in many ways.