Taking some inspiration from @LeanMachine early this spring, I began working (in fits and starts) on making myself a Kifaru Duplex Lite frame. This week I finally made a pack for it. I settled on a Stryker bag for the time being, but have a couple custom designs in my brain that I would like to bring to the real world--time permitting. The slim profile of this bag is really nice, and it doesn't collapse on itself like so many otherbags do. If you're in the market for a good load carrying pack, unless Mystery Ranch comes up with a better whitetail pack soon, I don't think you would be going wrong with the Kifaru Stryker.
I took a design cue from the Mystery Ranch Treehouse (amazing bag, but with some critical weaknesses) and made the front panel pocket accessible from the interior as a flip down gear pocket. Now it serves as an easily accessible location to set a call or rangefinder.
The frame is 22" and made of 1/16" HDPE sheet with carbon fiber arrow stays. Since this will mostly be used for whitetails and pigs, I didn't see much use for going up to the Kifaru standard 1/8". A Singer 211G165 and later a Juki 1541S were used for the majority of the work you see here, with a Singer 20U33 serving as a poor man's bartacker. When the opportunity comes along, I would really like to get one of the Juki 1900 heavy duty electronic bartackers.....
Since Kifaru is Swahili for rhino (as seen in their logo), I opted to adorn my pack with the slower, fatter, yet deadlier hippo; Kiboko.
If any of you guys are feeling even a slight inclination to try something like this out, just go for it! The sewing is the easy part, it's the planning, layout, and order of operations that can be challenging and takes me the most time. So you can start on the hard part now, even if you don't have access to a sewing machine.
Oh, yeah, also made the Gun Bearer seen hanging off the right hand side with some Hypalon and webbing. Total weight with the frame, pack, and Gun Bearer is 5lb 3oz.
I took a design cue from the Mystery Ranch Treehouse (amazing bag, but with some critical weaknesses) and made the front panel pocket accessible from the interior as a flip down gear pocket. Now it serves as an easily accessible location to set a call or rangefinder.
The frame is 22" and made of 1/16" HDPE sheet with carbon fiber arrow stays. Since this will mostly be used for whitetails and pigs, I didn't see much use for going up to the Kifaru standard 1/8". A Singer 211G165 and later a Juki 1541S were used for the majority of the work you see here, with a Singer 20U33 serving as a poor man's bartacker. When the opportunity comes along, I would really like to get one of the Juki 1900 heavy duty electronic bartackers.....
Since Kifaru is Swahili for rhino (as seen in their logo), I opted to adorn my pack with the slower, fatter, yet deadlier hippo; Kiboko.
If any of you guys are feeling even a slight inclination to try something like this out, just go for it! The sewing is the easy part, it's the planning, layout, and order of operations that can be challenging and takes me the most time. So you can start on the hard part now, even if you don't have access to a sewing machine.
Oh, yeah, also made the Gun Bearer seen hanging off the right hand side with some Hypalon and webbing. Total weight with the frame, pack, and Gun Bearer is 5lb 3oz.
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