Rig’mups Redux

First, a few pictures of the item this pouch is intended for, what I’ve always known as a rigger’s key.

In the hand, giving a sense of the size.

Several years ago I posted something about this pouch I had made several years before that.

The closure for it broke, namely the button.

Came up with a different approach. The button obviously proved the weak point, but getting the elastic through the slot in the skein proved to be a bit fiddly. Besides that, this approach meant that it could really only be mounted on the front of something to be able to open and close it. If I carry this, (and it is admittedly a tool that I haven’t so much use for), it will likely sit behind another pouch. I wanted something that would allow me to open and close it from the top, not the front.

Opted to sew two lengths of Mil-Spec elastic cord to it with a pull tab on each one. The cord is only under tension when it’s pulled up to release it. 

Front. Cords in place. The key is held in place very securely. 

 Front. Cords released. 

Back. Cords released.

Close up on the tabs. I only have to release one for me to be able to extract the key, but both open is a little easier.

Hanging upside down, no amount of shaking to and fro, no matter how forcefully, will release it.

Mounted behind a pouch.

 Tabs and cords pulled to the side.

Tool being extracted.

Part of me thinks I should have sewn tabs to the pouch and then secured the bungee cord to those tabs rather than to the pouch itself. If I have to replace it, that would make it easier. But the elastic is very good quality, they aren’t going to be yanked on dozens times a day, and really, if I have to replace the cord, I may just take a different approach and make a whole new pouch. But for the foreseeable future, this will work just fine.

Tūl’mups

So I came up with NyfFyrLyt 3....and after living with it for a while I realized I wasn’t so keen on it.

Mainly the fact that it weighed a kilo, and was essentially a big brick attached to my belt. It just wasn’t a comfortable day to day item.

I came to the conclusion that the idea of one pouch, while on the face of it an elegant solution, a few smaller pouches, some that I can wear on the right side and some on the left side was a much more workable solution. Not to mention that I don’t need to or want to carry all of them all the time. I may just want a flashlight, or my LM Wave - but not some of the other things all the time.

Created this pouch, the first of several, for the PocketWrench 2, Leatherman Bit Kit, brass calipers, and a needle nose file, the Tūl’mups.

Nothing that innovative about the pouch itself. I used webbing for back and the flap, and a side release buckle for a closure.

Bottom is just folding and stitching the excess of a square of Cordura down.

A step from the construction process. I wanted three compartments, and created that by sewing a length of tubular webbing on to the flap. The Cordura that formed the box would create the third compartment. Something else I did was to sew a bartack across the bottom of the tubular webbing so that the PocketWrench would sit up a little bit higher to make accessing it easier.

A closer look at the three compartments.

The one innovative idea on the pouch is one I carried over from the NyfFyrLyt 3. BALLS – Belt Attachment Lowerable Loop System. I can wear it high or low, and also still attach it to PALS webbing.

Box stitch on the strap.

The required items as carried.

I’ve already realized a shortcoming – it’s catchy. If it was a fairly tight belt loop, one just large enough to accommodate the width of my belt, it would be less of an issue. I needed to clamber into a tight space a few days ago and stuff on both sides snagged and managed to ride up and fold out enough where I have to manually unhook myself. Getting into a kayak hatch with this one would become a pain in the ass. Not just a nuisance, but I could see it potentially being dangerous as well.

The Siamese SlikClips are also a bit pointed, and I can see them damaging upholstery. (There is also the issue of their strength limitations.) I’m thinking I’d like to get my hands on some WooJin Gate Keepers instead. But I think before I spend the money on that, I will try a loop of Spectra line and knot it. Light, low profile, free. Not as quick to attach and detach though.

Another thought I’m having is in order for these pouches to be as low profile as possible, to ditch the SRBs. Maybe have a strip across the pouch that the flap can be inserted into to hold it closed. Would likely need pull tabs to open it and close it. I’ll give it a try at some point.

Totally Tubular – Belt’mups pt. 2

The original of this you can read about here:
http://exploriment.blogspot.ca/2009/10/totally-tubular-beltmups.html

So in some ways the basic premise of the first version was sound. It was certainly comfortable to wear, contained a decent amount of survival stuff, but what put the kibosh on it was the buckle. It was simply too big to pass through even the biggest belt loops on any pants I had. I put the idea on the backburner for a while (where far too many of my ideas languish.). I decided to turn it into a pocket of sorts that could be attached to a belt rather than serve as the belt itself. And that works much better.

The belt is a 5.11 1.75" TDU belt. Not a heck of a lot to say about it. It’s a belt, it’s stiff, the webbing doesn’t slip through the buckle, it holds my pants up, I can put pouches on it. I’ve been wearing it for....5 years now. I like it. So all in all I would give it a hearty endorsement.

Sorry, black on black isn’t so easy to see.

A better look at the pouch itself. I put Velcro at both ends to load and unload. Sewn only along the outer edges, but it’s sufficient to hold it closed. And since it will be opened and closed very rarely, that’s enough. I also sewed on three loops to hold it onto the belt.

A closer look at the loops.

On the belt. Snug fit.

Closeup of the closure. (And if you want to know what I have in there, the link at the top of the page will tell you. The one thing I have added are a bunch more Micropur tablets. After a hiking trip where my main water purification system went down, I realized that just a few of those tablets is not enough. Yes I can boil water, but that has serious limitations. You have to stop for a time, use up either fuel or collect wood, drinking boiled water in the middle of summer is not so fun, so you have to wait for it to cool down, and when it is summer, and you are moving, you will repeat that process several times a day. Tablets are a lot easier.)

And worn. Pushed down a bit on the left hand side there, but that is no biggie. Again, very comfortable. I’ve been wearing it for three days now, and I don’t even know it’s there. It makes weaving it through belt loops and through loops on the back of pouches a little trickier, but not majorly so.

Nice to take an idea I felt had some merit and turn it into a more functional reality. It may not necessarily be something I will wear every day, but I can if I want to. Unless I’m unfortunate enough to have to go into non-permissive environments. Which thankfully, I don’t do very often.

Totally Tubular – Cow Tails

I made these a bunch of years ago to serve as retention lanyards in a canoe. Keep say a camera bag safely tethered to the boat, and still have it be easy to access. There are other uses for it as well, anywhere you want to prevent something from sliding off or out of something. A friend puts his pack on the front passenger seat and clips it in to prevent it from sliding all over the place.

Made with bungee cord, some 1⁄2" tubular webbing and some 1" tubular webbing. The 1⁄2" webbing went over the bungee to protect it from wear and tear. Just knotted, not sewn. There are fall protection lanyards similar to this which are sewn, but this is not meant to prevent loss of life, just loss of property. No need to sew really.

Totally Tubular – Belt’mups pt. 1

I had the idea to make a belt with survival kit inside of it. Not for any sort of James Bond-ian, bust out of prison reasons, but I liked the idea of being able to have some stuff that would be helpful in a pinch, but in an unobtrusive, forget about it until you need it package.

I figured the easiest approach would be to just use tubular webbing, put everything inside of it, and then use two tri-glides and a 2" side release buckle.

All the components laid out. There are of course lots of things I would like to have in here, but the vessel they would go in, and the location that it would be worn in, dictated what could and couldn’t go in.

Contents

1. Fresnel Lens Magnifier (fire lighting in day light hours, aid in removing splinters)
2. Thin reflective material to act as signal mirror
3. 4 pieces of Rite in the Rain Paper (for leaving notes for rescuers, as a memory aid)
4. 5µ Silicon Carbide on a mylar backing (micro-abrasive for sharpening)
5. 3 small fish hooks
6. sewing needle (repairs, splinter removal) 
7. 3 extra small fish hooks
8. hack saw blade (cutting, striker for flint)   
9. 2 Small Zip Ties (repairs)
10. Wire Saw (rings removed) inside a length of tubing (which can be used to draw water out of crevices, stoke a fire)
11. 4 m of 2.5cm military Duct Tape
12. 4 m of orange flagging tape (in between the duct tape)
13. 2 large Safety Pins (repairs, securing items to prevent loss, fashioning a sling, fish hooks)
14. 4 MicroPur MP-1 Water Purification Tablets 
15. 2 Breast Milk Storage Bags (water storage, tinder storage, collecting food stuffs, transpiration bag, etc.)
16. 1 #22 Scalpel Blade (rudimentary back up blade)
17. ? m of 96 lb. Test Nylon Cord (shelter building, repairs, traps, fishing, etc., etc.)
    
18. ? m of Dental Floss (hygiene, expedient repairs)
19. ? m of SpiderWire (fishing, snares, repairs)
20. Flint (fire starting)
21. 1 Povidone-Iodine Pad (wound cleansing, purifying water)

Larger, unlabelled version of the above picture for anyone that wants a closer look at anything.

Then I wrapped all the components in Glad Press’n Seal....

...ran a piece of string along the length of it, some masking tape to hold it in place...

...tied my riggers key to the end of the string to get it through the tubular webbing...

...and then worked the bundle through....

...out one end, removed the tape, pulled it out the other end, removed the tape, worked the bundle into the centre, and removed the cord.

The belt is very comfortable to wear. You really don’t know that it’s there. I think it isn’t too obtrusive visually. I doubt it would dawn on anyone that there was something in there. If I was to be frisked it would become obvious that something is in there, and clearly there are enough metal objects inside it that I wouldn’t get it through a metal detector. But like I said, subterfuge is not the aim here, just an out of the way means of carrying some survival gear.

There are areas that it is deficient in, items it really should have. But there are limits to what can be put inside a 2" tube that encircles the waist. As it stands, I think it’s a decent addendum to some other items that are carried on the body. 

But other than taking this picture, I’ve never really worn it. Those modified Dutch DPM pants are the only ones I have that I can fit it through the belt loops (and it’s still tough to get them through). It would be easier if I took off the SRB and tri-glide on one side, but that is such a nuisance. The issue of it being hard to lace through belt loops also makes putting any sort of pouches on the belt also an issue. They could probably sit on the belt itself okay, but getting the SRB through the belt loop on the back of the pouch would likely be a no go.

To be honest, this was more than anything just a fun exercise. Pretty much just a “let’s see if this is feasible” thing. While I haven’t really run with the idea, that’s not to say that it has no merits. Someone who has pants with really wide belt loops and no desire to carry belt mounted pouches could run this with no problem at all. It could also work as a strap on a bag. I have a length of tubular webbing with a contractor grade garbage bag inside it that I use as a bag strap. Works really well.

Since posting this, I’ve taken the original idea and reworked it a bit. Read about it here: http://exploriment.blogspot.ca/2012/11/totally-tubular-beltmups-pt-2.html