I’ve searched high and low, and found only brief tidbits of information spread across various threads, hence the new thread.
Basically, as the title says, I am interested in integrating a hydration carrier with a chest rig, specifically the BFG RACKminus.
While there are tons of options for attaching hydration to the back of a plate carrier (lots of MOLLE real estate), there don’t seem to be many options for doing something similar to the back of a minimalist chest rig.
Has anyone here tried to do this, or know how best to approach this??
The only ideas I have are either Grimlocs or zipties, but was hoping for something more “sophisticated”.
You can mod a Camelbak to integrate into the X- or H-Harness straps at the top, with the waist band buckling into the chest rig on the lower left and right sides.
This is a Camelbak integrated into a standard FLCE vest:
I attached a molle pack to an Eagle Universal Chest rig a couple years back, ran the molle straps through the back straps and with a little bit of duck tape at the x harness to make sure there were no shifts I ran it well, never had any issues with it, but is far from ideal.
For the Tyr Horizontal carrier, how does that even attach? It seems like it could only mount to a plate carrier, not a rig. Interesting product though. Never seen it before.
The Camelbak shown, is it sewn into the straps of the vest??
Lastly, for the ATS MCH, I can see how to bottom of the hydration carrier is secured to the chest rig, but I am unclear how exactly the top is attached.
From my searching, it seems like there aren’t a lot of off-the-shelf solutions for chest rig + hydration integration, rather a lot of homebrew DIY projects. Guess I better take up sewing.
I’ve attached a Camelbak Thermobak to my SOE chest rig harness using fastex grimlocks and the d rings on the Camelbak itself. Can be a bit of a pain putting on and off, but a buddy can help and it works.
Well… Maybe not as good as it seems.
I literally just tried this- I and a friend have ATS chest rigs. He wanted a hydro option, and got the ATS bladder that is supposed to be a direct-attach H-harness compatible bladder carrier (MCH I think).
Does it hold your water bladder securely? Yes.
However! There is nothing supporting it other than the thin “H” cross strap, and with a full 3-liter (or any- liter I would imagine) it sags like a bitch. The only way it would work is either with a very stiff “H” strap- like maybe with an HDPE insert, or if it was modded to integrate with the shoulder straps.
Now, seeing as how someone else here is using it, YMMV.
I went the old style PITA way, and bought a Source 3-liter bladder carrier, and simply throw it on over the ATS rig. I modded out a waist strap, and run it through the buckles on the outside of the bladder to attach the bladder to the CR and eliminate flop.
Extra straps are slightly annoying, but it works well- of course time will tell- have a field test coming up (hopefully) so we shall determine the true effectiveness shortly.
Someday when I start my amazingly awesome gear company, this problem will be solved for good. Just wait a few years or so… :laugh:
