Made this today, its a rough prototype for an aluminum panel insert i'm going to have made for production. I used the 1/4" thick plastic from an old Pelican King Case (got it for free used the hell outta it, cracked it, reused it by bolting it to my 4x4 rack, and now its getting re-used again!) cuttin' time! rough blank, smoothed edges 1/4 inch holes marked by sight and drilled out size reference (esee 6) inside the pack Mikea made and i bought (LOVING THIS PACK!) 1/4" heavy duty bungee cord lashing and a BattleCord grab handle. (NOTE: the hole pattern is one i took from an old trappers pack my elderly neighbour in the Kootenays made. He used 1/2" 10 ply maple plywood, with 1/4" cord lashed thru it. His pack was a wood framed panel pack, much bigger, about 100 liters) adding the pouches on the bottom portion of the panel. I let about 1.5" of the pouch bottom go PAST the panel, so there would be no fabric rub thru. Its fast to lace the pouches on and cinch them tight. two big dump pouches mounted tight inserted into the Mikea Pack back side of panel. Excess lashing can hold mittens or maps or tarp folded flat removed from pack if needed...can be strapped to OUTSIDE of pack, hung on back seat etc now i am well aware there is a plethora of rigid and semi-rigid molle panel inserts, the best one is by Greyman Tactical https://greyman-tactical.com/collec...rigid-insert-panel-molle-rip-m-12-25in-x-21in but i'm broke and the materials were free and I got to use my hands after a hard days work to customize my gear. I plan to make an aluminum verison of my insert, with 1/4" CHAMFERED holes spaced 1" all over the panel, and nicely rounded edges.
Very nice pack insert. I may have to try something like this for my EDC. I keep two small packs inside that this would work great for.
Kind of cool idea. For the horizontal cordage might you use shock cord? I ask because you show some gear inserted under the cord and I thought of using shock cord instead of paracord.
^ that is shock cord...1/4" thick heavy duty bungee. entire panel is lashed with one length of shock cord. Only the grab handle is paracord (1/4" BattleCord)
added a few more pouches. Center pouch is an E&E pouch and laced in with quick release paracord, which once loosened, becomes a neck or shoulder strap for the the E&E pouch. slim profile still tons of room, added my Petzl gloves, FAK , Esee 6. Removable panel back in the pack. Perfect fit.
I see that now. One of the pictures shows a knot that looks like a shock cord knot and not a paracord knot. Sorry I missed that.
