Eberlestock F1 mainframe mod

[Newtosavage]

I've moved on from the Dragonfly to the tall F1 mainframe, but immediately recognized a modification I wanted to make to the pack. The "J" bar on the bottom of the pack would get in the way anytime I wanted to lean back against my pack when glassing from a hillside. That's something I spend a lot of time doing, so I had to figure out a solution. Why they didn't offer a hinged load shelf, I don't know. I suppose they were afraid it wouldn't be as strong as a solid bar? Maybe not, but I'm not going to try and haul hundreds of pounds on my Mainframe, and I think a hinged load shelf bar will handle more than my legs and back will anyway.

So I simply cut the "J" portion right in the middle, then bent the arms on the scrap piece to fit inside the rest of the frame, drilled holes for hinge pins, and installed some pins from one of my frame packs to test. Once everything looked like it was going to work, I replaced those pins with 1/4" bolts and nuts with nylon bushings so they won't come loose.

Now the load shelf hinges and I can lay back against a hillside or a bush or whatever, like I'm used to doing.

I also added the lid from my Dragonfly pack. Sewed on a buckle up top to hold it in position, and then cut off the two small buckles from the edge of the lid and sewed them on where the shoulder straps tie into the bottom of the frame. Now I have a removable lid that doubles as a fanny pack, with straps that will help compress the batwings or hold a coat or vest.

All in all, I like how it turned out. My plan is to keep my camp in my spike duffel and put it between the batwings, with the lid going over the top. The spike duffel will come out when I get to my camping spot, and all my food will be in the lid, so I can remove it and hang it in a tree. Then I can go hunt in the daypack configuration with just the two batwings and the load shelf will be tucked up and out of the way until I need it.

I have a few local NF whitetail hunts where I plan to try it out, but I'm expecting good things from this setup.

Hope it helps someone.

 

[abrady4]

Great work on your mod. I’ve wanted to do the same with mine.

Other big ideas ive had is to use the meat shelf as a hasty seat for glassing with some short fold out legs to get a few inches off the ground after unzipping my batwings so my back would be against the inside molle webbing. And maybe a socket to anchor hiking sticks to have some recline support when leaning back.

Another idea is to use the meat shelf as a small tree-saddle foot platform when I’m hunting eastern whitetails 25ft up a tree. I love the mainframe and wanting to incorporate it for more use-cases.

 

[Patriot2]

Sweet - great mod! My buddy just bought an F1 frame, I went with and EXO K3.