Will a small or medium Yeoman fit (rolled) into the Smart Alec Lower Modular Pouch?

[kieri]

I'm trying to close a gap in my current packing strategy. I love traveling with my Smart Alec, but it's a tough bag to live out of one I arrive at my destination. Plus, I would never, ever check it for fear of the straps being destroyed, so I can't pick up extra liquids (*cough* liquor) while traveling.

It occurred to me that a small or medium Yeoman would be handy to unpack into, and if I pick up some extra goodies, it can haul them on the way home. If I got the medium, the SA itself could theoretically pack down into it for a return trip.

I know a Large Yeoman can be rolled into a size 3 TSS if yoh have wizard packing skills, but can a small or medium be neatly rolled and tucked into a ballistic LMP?

[moriond]

Hi @kieri,

Yes, you can roll a medium (or smaller) size Yeoman Duffel and fit it into the Lower Modular Pocket of a Smart Alec. But, you don't necessarily need to roll a Yeoman Duffel in order to carry it along in a travel bag, and you don't even need to own a Lower Modular Pocket to take one along with your Smart Alec.

Here's a picture of a Navy Medium Yeoman Duffel rolled into the Lower Modular Pocket (LMP) of my Aubergine/Wasabi Smart Alec. To the right of the rolled up Medium Yeoman Duffel in the Smart Alec LMP, I show the Burnt Orange Small Yeoman Duffel, flat-packed and secured in the front elastic cords of the Aubergine Smart Alec. Notice that this way of carrying a flat-packed Yeoman Duffel works for the earlier model Smart Alecs that predate the webbing loop additions for attaching upper and lower modular pocket accessories.



When the original (now called the "Large" size) Yeoman Duffel was first released in 2015, we weren't used to thinking about 71-liter capacity duffel bags in the context of travel bags that were 45-liters, tops (e.g., the Aeronaut 45). But one obvious usage, in addition to car travel and camping, was to use these as overflow bags when you needed to carry large items. So the people who received samples of the original Yeoman Duffel experimented with alternate ways of carrying this (hence the rolling of that size Yeoman Duffel into a Travel Tray or a Size 3 Travel Stuff Sack).

But the smaller size of Yeoman Duffel more naturally lend themselves to "flat-packing" via folding rather than rolling, in the sense that they can typically take up less room this way. In the main Tom Bihn travel bags, you can easily store these in the Backpack Strap pocket, which is why I showed some of these configurations in my post in the New Sizes to the Yeoman SOOO Cute thread. But for the Smart Alec, which many also use as a travel bag, although you do not have a backpack strap pocket to use for storage, you can secure items to the front of the bag with the elastic chords.

Here's a picture showing the relative sizes of the (flattened) Medium Yeoman Duffel in Navy, Small Yeoman Duffel in Burnt Orange, and (empty) Smart Alec Lower Modular Pocket in Aubergine:



I'll also add that the folded Small Yeoman Duffel in Burnt Orange can fit in other backpacks -- such as the bottom front zippered pocket of the Synapse 25:



(I hadn't meant to add this to this thread, but I uploaded this picture by mistake, and figured I would keep this in the post. I'll update the discussion in the New Sizes to the Yeoman SOOO Cute thread with these and some other pictures I took.)

Just another side comment, for those trying to roll these bags. I've typically found that while Ballistic Nylon eventually softens and becomes more pliable with time, certain colors tend to be stiffer and take longer to soften. Aubergine is about the stiffest, and stays stiff longer than Black, for instance. Coyote is fairly pliable. Most pliable of all was the much lamented Kiwi (which I loved). Others may have different experiences. YMMV.

HTH

moriond

[kieri]

Thank you so much! Your posts are always so detailed and helpful!

Since I don't think I can decide between a small and medium Yeoman, I guess I'll just have to get one of each!

[kieri]

I just snagged a small Yeoman, and it works PERFECTLY for this purpose. I performed a test pack and was able to roll the small Yeoman into a size 2 stuff sack (no strap) and throw it on top of the rest of my stuff inside the bag, or use a carabiner to clip it to the outside. Flat packing it and using the compression straps also worked perfectly.

I used a PCSB and TLSS for my clothes, and tossed in a raincoat, chrysalis Cardi, folding flats, and my laptop plus a travel tray of cords and whatnot. I was able to unpack the PCSB into the Yeoman, toss in the TLSS, extra shoes, and toiletries, then keep using my SA as a day pack!

Overall, I'd say these two bags were pretty much made for each other!

[achat]

Your posts are always so detailed and helpful! Thanks!