Outfitting my Grenadier Trialmaster

[jscherb]

This is a photo of a cardstock printout of a design for a MOLLE/Gear mounting panel that attaches to factory threaded holes above the cargo area windows in the Grenadier. For me this would be a good place to store gear out of the way, either in MOLLE pouches or mounted to the panel with something like QuickFist clamps. I've experimented with mounting L-Tracks to the factory holes, but for this location, L-Tracks aren't as useful as a MOLLE panel might be. I've attached a photo of the L-Tracks and a photo of a small bag hanging from one of themb. I know there are MOLLE panels available that cover up the windows, but I only want something above the windows, I don't want to block the windows. Does anything like this exist already?



Earlier I tried hanging a MOLLE bag on the overhead L-Track but it would work much better on a panel like the one above.





I'll probably make a prototype of the MOLLE panel to test, stay tuned.

 

[jscherb]

Having L-Tracks in a bunch of places on the Grenadier is great, but the limited range of fittings for them limits how we can use our L-Tracks. There are basically three types of fittings on the market - things to hook tie-downs to (like the fittings that come with the Grenadier, although there are a few other variations of that design), threaded studs, and large hooks. The studs are useful for securing things to the floor such as kitchens and drawers and I've used a number of them in the cargo space to secure things to the floor. But also I want to be able to quickly clip something to the L-Track, such as a bag with campsite gear. The bag could live inside the Grenadier while on the road and at the campsite it could be quickly clipped onto the exterior L-Track for use at the campsite. That's a bit awkward to do with any of the fittings on the market except possibly the big hooks, so I came up with a simple tab and slot fitting.

The fitting installed in the L-Track:



The tab that gets attached to whatever you want to hang on the track:



As a test, I attached tabs to the back of a military surplus bag using pop rivets.



I also installed these fittings in the overhead L-Tracks above my cargo area and the bag slips into those as well:





The bag in this example is just something I had laying around that I used for this test; other things one might hang there could be a fabric MOLLE panel with a range of bags on it all with things useful at the campsite. Or a bit stronger version of this tab and slot idea could be mad to hang a small table. Or, just to hang bags on the inside, the tab and slot system is a lot easier and quicker to use than threading MOLLE straps through a grid.

I'll be using these fittings as part of my camping/overlanding configuration.

 

[jscherb]

Saturday I posted a design idea for a MOLLE panel that mounts to existing threaded holes above the cargo area side windows. I made a prototype panel yesterday. It's got a MOLLE grid and also a grid of holes for mounting things that don't use MOLLE, for example things that might mount with QuickFist clamps.



A military surplus shovel mounted with QuickFist clamps and two pouches:



Some typical MOLLE pouches:



Smaller pouches:



A much larger military surplus pouch and a smaller military surplus pouch:



A wider view:



The panel seems to work well, it adds out of the way storage in a place where storage isn't and doesn't obcure the window. I only made one panel yesterday, I'll make more of these panels for testing.

Also, rather than use ordinary MOLLE bags on these panels, I think I'll design bags custom-fitted to this space.