So, I had few free hours today and I decided to build a backpack mount for my GoPro.  I’ve been thinking about it for a long time and I had a plan in my head that involved a wood plate, a bunch of screws, an old windsurfing boom and a DaKine backpack.  After a quick trip to the hardware store I scrapped most of that and I ran with some metal strapping, a DaKine backpack, a windsurfing boom and bunch of hose clamps.  The results were impressive to say the least.  In fact it came out much better than I ever imagined!  Here’s some photos of the parts and the mount before I put it in the backpack.

And the total cost was $26 dollars!  That doesn’t include the windsurfing boom which I scavenged out of the pile of junk in my barn.  I used the 2 t-straps to mount one arm of the boom and I connected everything with hose clamps.  I also went through the trouble of bending the t-straps to better fit my back.  Here’s what it looked like after that:

I then used some kite straps to hook into the holes at the ends of the t-straps.  I put the entire thing into a DaKine backpack and punched some holes for the kite straps.  I ran those threw the backpack material, zip-tied the backpack zippers closed and tried it on.  It was awesome.  Light and it didn’t bounce around.  Here are a few pics of the finished product and Nick Rickert modeling it:

Thanks Nick.  And below is a VERY quick clip showing the video from the mount itself.  Synopsis of the trial run at the end.

Synopsis

Overall the test was a success.  There were a few minor setbacks but for the amount of effort and cost of this build it was definitely a win.

Pros

• Low cost ($26)
• Very light
• Very snug
• Doesn’t bounce much

Cons

• Backpack filled up with water right away – I’m talking 10-20 lbs.
• When body-dragging on my stomach the camera mount kept trying to drown me
• The camera mount loved to get caught in my lines

I think overall the main obstacles can be overcome.  The worst one was the water weight.  I’m going to punch some big drainage holes into the bottom of the backpack which should fix that issue.  I’m also thinking of mounting the pole off to the side to do two things, stop it from drowning me and get a different angle that shows the wakeskate better.