Frank at Kifaru told me a few months back that, despite speculation on Rokslide at the time, there were no plans to reintroduce the Rambler at this point - or any other bag with an integral scabbard.
A few pics surfaced about the same time with a larger, more heavy-duty looking scabbard to go with the Nomad. Check out the latest Kifarucast for a very brief update about this - it's apparently about to be released soon:
Q&A #3 - Kifaru International
In that podcast, Aron also comments that as the Eberlestock patent is about to expire, 'the industry will be overwhelmed and inundated with scabbard packs', which might explain why the plans to reintroduce the Rambler might have been dropped - at least for now.
As for the slop issues, there are a few threads on here. Unfortunately, some of the best images have disappeared because of Photobucket. There are two main issues that cause the slop - the first is that you effectively have three pieces of fabric at the back of the pack - the back 'wall' of the pack itself, the outer sleeve of the scabbard, and the meat/extension shelf. The G-hooks are attached to the middle of these, so you then have two other planes that can move around unless secured. The second issue the bottom of the bag.
I'm still troubleshooting mine - I sway between thinking it's one of the cleverest Kifaru options, and one of the most frustrating. It also doesn't help that there are huge differences between how the original videos say the pack will be configured, and the multiple versions that actually made it out.
However, but the mods that work so far for me are:
- In addition to the G-hooks at the top, also attach some split bar ladderlocks to the loops at the top of the pack (this is on the first of the three bits of fabric above, or the back 'wall' of the bag). Run the lid webbing strap up through the plastic loop at the top of the frame, and then back down to the ladderlocks; this pulls the bag up tight. In one of the original videos, Aron said that the pack would come with ladderlocks here, but mine didn't. After running through the ladderlocks on the bag, it's possible to then double the webbing back to ladderlocks on a lid. This makes for a far tighter lid than one connected with male/female buckles, and one that's quicker to move than one done 'book' style with K-clips.
- Running K-clip compression straps from the loop at the bottom rear of the bag, under the bottom of the bag, up through the plastic common loop on the bottom outer of the bag, and then to a male Autolock buckle that connects to the lid makes the bag tight from top to bottom as a unit, as well as helping with compression.
- It's then possible to run a short piece of webbing from the same fabric tab loop at the bottom rear of the bag to a G-hook which connects to the bottom-most tab loop of the frame. For now, I've used two Harness Extensions from FHF Gear, which work great (
Harness Extension
– fhfgear), then connected to an ITW G-Hook with a wave, for increased locking ability (
ITW G-Hook Wave - MIL-SPEC MONKEY STORE). I find the plastic Slik-Clip on the FHF Extension a bit fiddly, and I'm sceptical about its ruggedness, so will probably swap it out for a Kifaru K-clip if/when these ever come back in stock.
- As for the compression straps, I got rid of all of the sloppy male/female-ended buckle options mine came with. I then went with three compression strap points as follows: I run a K-clip from the top loop on each side the bag, through the webbing at the top of the side slot pockets, back to a male Autolock-to female split tail connection to the top loop on the frame. (This means using a total of two K-clips, two short pieces of webbing, and two male/female buckles, total, for this horizontal plane.) I also run the same from the bottom loop on each side of the pack back to the bottom frame loop. So at the top and lower point of the frame, I have compression to the side of the bag, but not all the way around. Finally, I run a single compression strap around the whole bag at the middle. This connects to a K-clip on each of the second-to-top tab loops on the frame. This angle pulls the bag back and up to the frame. This strap connects in the middle with a single buckle, again with a male Autolock. Running this strap around the whole frame means both that the bag is tightly located to the frame in the middle of the bag, as well as providing for 'around-the-bag' compression.
- Finally, I think it would make sense to marry the Rambler to a Tactical, not a Hunting frame, for two key reasons. First, the Tactical frame has two rows of tab loops that the oval sliders on the extension/meat shelf flap can connect to (the Hunting frame only has one row of these, which means the meat shelf either hangs lower than the pack body if mounted low, or flaps around if mounted high). The Tactical frame would mean that this piece of material would be located at a high and low point, not just one. Second, all of the connection and compression points I've mentioned here seem to put a lot of stress on my Hunting frame when they're all cranked up. Sure, the pack is now slop-proof and super-tight -and the Hunting frame is no doubt up to the job - but I suspect the Tactical frame would handle all of this stress better.
Just some thoughts in case this helps! (And no, I don't have any pics!
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