looks like I do it all wrong.............

I face the pack...........cross my hands grabbing opposing straps and swing the whole shebang up and around while grunting the words "up kimba" with a slight indian (from india ;) ) accent

I brace the side of the pack with a forearm while I slide one arm in and then the other. A smidge tricky I rekon but I usually do OK unless I forget to slacken my shoulder straps. Quite a bit of twisting and lifting though.

I probably do the boat all wrong to I bet. I just lean over and grab the thing. I might have to re-think that now since I am thinking about adding a "real" backrest. I have one coming from eds canoe. All wood and cane with no blasted side straps which I have always been leery of should I have a spill (entanglement hazard with the batman belt). Problem is the blasted thing weighs a ton at 4lbs. I'm thinking of doing some surgery on it so the backrest part just hits my lower back instead of upper back. Maybe I can shave a pound.

My solo bell is starting to get heavy. 2 rods and reels, depth finder, brackets to hold GPS/compass/pliers and now an incredibly heavy backrest and a backpack with 7 lbs of lures.

It will be worth it if my back does better. I like the idea of cutting it down, perhaps it won't get in the way when I paddle and I'll have it when I fish or just need to kick back and stretch. I spend a lot of time in the boat and not so much in camp.

Time to man up and stop whimpering about 55 lbs of boat and gear on a portage. Back in the day guys routinely portaged 80lb boats as a matter of routine and didn't think nothing of it.