Why Handbuilt Packs Matter More Than You Think

The show floor is buzzing, but we carve out a quiet corner to trade notes with Will from Bowman Gear—a maker who turns fabric and stubborn ideas into gear that actually solves trail problems. From the first cut to the final stitch, Will walks us through two and a half months of prep for the Hamilton Adventure Expo, including a two-week, all-in push and a smart shop setup that brought his family into the flow. This isn’t factory talk; it’s real-world craft where every seam has a reason and every pocket earns its place.

We dig into the Rio—a compact, water-resistant bag that shifts roles from waist pack to battle bag—and the Sentry, a field wallet that keeps first aid or wire kits tidy. Then we go practical: how a Tortuga pack becomes better with a stretch pocket for fast bottle grabs; how a clean sheath can tame an axe and saw; why a soot-proof stove bag still needs to glide instead of snag. The theme is modular design and user-centred thinking: reduce friction, speed access, and keep weight honest. Will shares how custom one-offs often become patterns ready for others, turning single problems into shared solutions.

The origin story lands close to home. A handed-down sewing machine led to repairs, then to the thrill of shaping fabric into durable tools. Friends pushed him to sell, the trail pushed him to refine, and now backpacks are the goalpost—complex, rewarding, and central to how a trip feels on your shoulders. We round out with trip plans that chase ice-out windows and slip in before bug season, swapping notes on routes, crowd timing, and why early spring rewards those who plan. If you care about small-batch manufacturing, smart pack design, and building gear that makes travel cleaner and calmer, you’ll feel right at home here.

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Transcript

Host Intro At Adventure Expo

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Good day, eh? This is welcome to the Super Good Camping Podcast. We're here at the Hamilton Adventure Expo, and I'm flying solo today. So, my name is Tim. Uh, I'm from Supergoodcamping.com. I'm here because we're on a mission to inspire other people to get outside and enjoy camping adventures such as we have as a family. Today's guest is Will from Bowman Gear. Welcome, welcome, welcome. Thank you for having me. How this so this is day two of the show. How has it been for you?

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Uh it's been pretty busy. Yesterday was good. It was a nice steady pace. Uh I didn't feel like we were getting too overwhelmed at any one point, but there was a lot of interest, a lot of people coming by. Successful stuff.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

Sweet. And you've been making stuff for this show for how many months?

SPEAKER_00 0:45

Uh, this probably takes me about two and a half months to get it, all the bags prepped and everything like that. Uh we have a two-week period where my work shuts down, so that's really much time where it's like in the shop every day. My wife was actually helping me this year. I made a little extension cable for the work area, so she was helping me cut fabric and we end up being a week ahead of schedule. Surprising.

unknown 1:08

Welcome.

Signature Bags And Modular Designs

SPEAKER_01 1:09

Yes, no kidding. Yeah, yeah. Ahead of schedule at any time is always a good thing. Excellent. So so tell me about some of the some of the bags, some of the gear that you make.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

Uh so we do a lot of different uh, you know, I do a lot of custom work. Uh I have some specific designs that are my own and then they're very uh duplicate papers. I can make them again.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

Like over and over. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:31

Yeah, yeah. So we've got the Rio, which has been super popular here. Um the simpler, like water resistant, weather bag that's for the battle bag. Take it off, leave it on for a waist pack. You know, you can attach it to the um your backpack waistbelt, stuff like that. So it's pretty handy. I found seems to be pretty popular. Sentry, which is a little like field wallet. You know, it's uh it's a nice simple thing to keep a wire kit in or uh first aid kit.

Real-World Use And Custom Mods

SPEAKER_01 2:03

Cool. Uh well, like so again, full disclosure, uh, I I own a handful of uh Will's gear. I've got a tortuga pack. Thomas and I both have Tortuga packs, which Will we we which we love. We started using it, and I went, wow, you know what? If we put some some stretchy stuff or did something on the outside of it, uh I could put my water bottle in there. Will's like, yeah, I know what you want. So sent them back to him, fixed them up, brought them back. Uh what else do we have? We've got I don't know what you actually call it. For me, it's my it's my cutlery collection. It's all my yeah, I've I've got matches in there, you know, the the the cutlery kits, yeah, it uh knives, all that sort of jazz. And then you made a uh very cool again, don't know what to call it, but it but a thing that holds my Agua Axe and my saw as well.

Future Projects And Problem Solving

SPEAKER_00 2:57

Yeah, I mean I made a lot of custom one-off things that don't really have like stuff.

Origin Story: From Repairs To Packs

SPEAKER_01 3:02

All right, cool. Well, now that you're done sweating things out, you I know you're gonna have to prep for another show as well. Once you're done that, reflector of kid reflector of them. I want I want that. Cool, yeah. No, it's well, it's a killer stove. It's just I the bag drives me crazy. It keeps catching and stuff. It's a great idea. It keeps it keeps from getting soot and stuff on my gear, but it's it's finicky and I'm I'm old and cranky, so I'm gonna pay for it. Exactly, exactly. Out of curiosity, how did you how did you end up? I feel like we've discussed this before, but I I am blanking. How did you end up doing this?

SPEAKER_00 3:40

Uh so I just sort of got given a sewing machine from my aunt, uh, just sort of my domestic machine, and I wanted to play around, maybe maybe do some repairs on gear, repairs on bows, maybe try making a few little pouches. And I just really fell in love with making uh gear, and I turned it to have a little bit of like a knock for it, and you know, some coersion for people that thought I should be selling it. You know, I when I came up with Golden Gear and really wanted to make backpacks, and that's where the fashion is, so I'm hoping to get bought in backpacks.

SPEAKER_01 4:16

As opposed to yeah, as opposed to the smaller accessory bags and stuff. Yeah, because it's not your full-time job, it's your full-time second job. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:25

Pay the bills as well.

Trip Plans, Timing, And Beating Bugs

SPEAKER_01 4:27

Yeah, I hear you. So so in paying the bills or or having money to take some well-deserved time off, what have you been up to? What do you got planned?

SPEAKER_00 4:35

Uh well, the past year we had a big seven-day trip home off with Rice, which we know is one of those years where you're at your fingers crossed. When is it? Yeah, well, you're booked, you know, you're booked in, and it was like maybe third next week, and they have it, but it opened up like days before you trip. Not quite as much fishing because we wanted something a little more. Last year. This year I think we're gonna do a shorter trip in May. You know, and we're just like, oh, it's time to start playing for me. And I'm like, let's talk about this again. That's show I gotta do.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

Yeah, I hear you. Well, there's there's two booths just over here that that can help you all out with the Wabikini stuff. You should. Or at least grab a bunch of pamphlets and stuff and and contact info so you can back and forth.

SPEAKER_00 5:22

Take the train up or something. We're gonna do something else.

SPEAKER_01 5:25

Sweet, man. Well, I'm glad glad to hear you're getting out. Uh and like ice out, so that's fine, because you're you're just ahead of bug season.

Wrap-Up And Thanks

SPEAKER_00 5:34

Yeah, that's why we started going, bro. You know, we used to do around the May 2-4 weekend, which was popular, and anyway. So, you know what? It's super busy, competitive, and you know, you know, it might be a little colder in the beginning of May, but less people less bugs.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

Yeah, less yeah. Well, I hear that. All right, brother. Well, thanks for coming over and having a visit.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 5:55

Appreciate it, dude.