Crye Precision’s Airlite Convertible Chest Rig is light and discrete. You can read my review of it here.

It stays out of the way and allows you to get on with stuff, but carries a decent load for such a minimalist chest rig.

It’s also extremely comfortable. However, for day long use in warm weather, I wanted to introduce some passive ventilation to the rear of the rig. Here’s how I did it.

The core of this mod lies with the excellent WTF Ultralite Admin Panel, which boasts the tagline, “…loop where you need it.” And it’s true. You can read my review of it here.

Super slim and weighing in at just 0.6oz / 18g, WTF’s Admin Panel is sympathetic both to the minimalism of Crye’s AirLite Convertible Chest Rig and my desire not to bulk it out unnecessarily; the only noticeable bulk being the AVS Harness Pads I’ve used to help ventilate the structure. Since the stand off provided by the pads (thus creating air channels) is at the heart of the mod, this is an acceptable trade-off for me.

The reverse of the chest rig exhibits exposed PALS webbing and it’s this that WTF’s Admin Panel is woven into.

I’ve also recycled Crye’s One-Wrap cable loops.

These are supplied with the chest rig, ostensibly for cable routing at the shoulder straps; although WTF’s Admin Panel does most of the adhesive work in this implementation.

Finally, with AVS Harness Pads installed. These have One-Wrap style hook on their reverse which keys into the WTF loop.

The mod isn’t limited to ventilation however. Here, as an example, I’ve moved the WTF Admin Panel lower and installed a Crye Roll Up Dump Pouch.

Of course, it would be great if WTF (or maybe AXL – see my reviews of their stuff here) produced panels which simply covered the entire area; with loop and hook options.

As it stands, Crye’s supplied solution to adding hook to the back of the rig for PC use is on the afterthought side of things, so it could use a professional solution.

I’m sure as Crye’s AirLite Structural Chest Rig becomes more and more available/popular, the aftermarket will expand in response.

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