Dry bags--how dry? Technique?

johnniet

johnniet

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Jul 12, 1999
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I'm trying to figure out if I did something wrong. I took my POS river kayak to the pool yesterday for rolling practice. I used a dry bag (with some things inside) as a substitute float bag.
Well, I rolled many times, and I wet-exited a couple of times, and there was a lot of water in the boat and around the dry bag.
When I went home, many of the things in the dry bag were wet.
I can see four possibilities:

(1) I didn't roll it up enough times, or properly. I think it was 3, but maybe one of them didn't count.
(2) Dry bags don't work as well if they're not full, or have extra air inside.
(3) This dry bag, by Voyageur, pretty new with no obvious holes, doesn't work that well.
(4) Things don't really stay dry inside a dry bag, and anything valuable requires more levels of protection.

Any ideas?
 
If the bag was rolled up properly, NRS says 4 nice tight rolls, and the extra air was squeezed out of the bag I would expect the contents to have stayed dry under those conditions. 3 sloppy rolls with a lot of air inside, I wouldn't be surprised to find a little moisture inside.

Yes, if something MUST stay dry, like an expensive camera, it needs to go in a dry box. Dry boxes aren't perfect either, if left closed in the sun they can develop condensation inside.

Things really do stay dry in dry bags, in all my years of paddling I have only showed up at camp with a soggy sleeping bag once. It was my fault for not closing my bag properly.
 
Johnniet,

Well, if the bag is good quality and has no leaks, it's all in the rolls.

I like to keep some air in my dry bags, even with some pressure in it, so that if I see it deflate I know it's not completely sealed. 4-5 good turns (make sure the whole rolls are perfectly flat and tight) always did the job for me (except when the bags exploded on rocks or stuff like that of course ;)).

Cheers,

David
 
Dry bags do work and work well when used properly.One word as mentioned above though,..SEALLINE.The best imo.
 
u can also try to put stuff inside a garbage bag then dry bag it, shouldn't get wet even if the roll is a little loose.
 
Watershed bags uses a non-roll type closure that works very well. The closure is somewhat like a zip-loc on steroids. Their bags are submersible.
 
There are several different types of drybags that work well. Sealline, Sierra, Ortlieb, Vaude, Ortlieb, and several more. The rolltops are the only ones I trust for immersion. You do need to roll them a few times to get a solid seal. It actually takes practice, some types more than others. Sometimes the ends aren't completely sealed or open up a bit. For soft materials like OR Advanced rolltops, twisting the ends helps. For stiffer nylon bags, an extra roll or two and a firm lockup helps. A few types have one way valves for air. I usually try to get as much air out as possible because space is almost always at a premium.
On serious trips I always double up: usually an OR inside and a black canyon external for kayaks. Better than using garbage bags.
 
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