I could not find this particular bag on the web ANYWHERE. i was curious if anyone has one or knows anything about it.
“Marine Raider - Floating Bag” from Academy Sports. It is CHEAP in every sense of the word, but as I do canoe camping maybe once every two years (like to change that), i think it will do fine for the price; $15.
dimesions on packaging: 25"x7"x43" and has shoulder straps. PVC coated Nylon, with Elect weld seals. bag itself seems stout, but straps are questionable. states on the packaging that it is for splash spray and shallow/short submerging…not meant for electronic equipment, which i never planned on putting any in it to begin with.
comments?
Sounds like it will work. I’ve gotten
good life out of cheap roll-top bags I’ve bought from sierra trading post, though some of the smallest and lightest bags developed leaks from friction being stuffed into and pulled out of composite kayaks. And of course, for canoe camping, the old standard was canvas Duluth packs, with inside plastic liners where dryness was important.
The (expensive) standard of performance is Watershed, with their rubber zip closures and tough urethane coated fabric. But they don’t pack as well as mosts roll top bags.
Buy cheap and serviceable, and later you’ll know how you want to spend for better.
Bigger Bags
We’ve used bigger bags in the past and I always find we would cram too much in them and they become a black hole. We go with smaller bags now and pack strategically for what we need.
Dicks Sporting goods has some great prices on dry bags - sometimes on clearance.
We strategically pack our:
Clothes
Bedding
Tent
Food
We are doing something new on our Suwannee trip and going with Dry Boxes http://www.northerntool.com/images/product/images/26170_lg.jpg. We picked up two and have our cooking items in one and our food for the day in another. They fit perfectly in the back of my Manta Ray 12 Kayak along with our tent in a dry bag.
Just easy to grab for what you need.
We had the bag you listed above, but it’s not from Acadamy Sports, but similar. We dumped it on one of our friends 
and I don’t think they are using it anymore either.
The best price compression bags we buy is from a guy off of ebay. We use these for backpacking only - they are called Durable Duffles. His site is - http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/mebepacky
Thanks for the input, y’all!
I bought it today and hope that it will last for 3 days in the Okefenokee…that’s all its gots to do.
I’ve also got three 5 gal buckets with a Gamma Seal on top that works well in a canoe but not so much a kayak.
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/002915.php
found them cheaper somewhere else but these things are great and they float. really cheap and if you got some buckets laying around, why not?
i had been looking for something to put my “camp items” in; bag/pillow/pad/clothes etc. and maybe a tent, so being a black hole won’t be so bad or no worse than my internal frame backpack i use for hiking. i will not be going into it very often…
It should be fine
but I would put anything I really did not want to get wet in one of those giant ziploc bags “just to be safe”. I have one similar that I purchased at Academy Sports that was totally waterproof until the strap pulled out of the side of the bag during a portage. Moral of the story “don’t trust the straps”
Dry Box
Yes we were looking at using some type of barrel storage container and thanks for sharing the lid site. Those are cool. We just couldn’t make it work on the kayak so that’s why we decided the size and shape the the dry box worked well on a yak.
We’ve been wanting to backpack Big Cypress. Let us know how your trip goes.
Big Garbage Bags…
…for everything that goes in it, just in case.
always double bag. don’t want to sleep in the wet, that’s for sure.
i do think the weakest link on this particular bag is the straps…really cheap, but cheap and easy on my wallet, which is steadily shrinking. thanks for the heads up!
Wal mart has cheap dry bags with roll
down tops and buckles. I have a set of small ones, they’re ok.
Academy Sports…
…also sells the “ammo” style water proof box. FYI
http://www.academy.com/index.php?page=content&target=products/outdoors/marine/storage&start=0&selectedSKU=0145-00028-0240
http://www.academy.com/index.php?page=content&target=products/outdoors/marine/storage&start=0&selectedSKU=0145-00028-5601
Wal-Mart Dry Bags
If they are the orange, blue and green set they are water resistant by not a true dry bag. Great for seperating items within a dry bag, but if your bag goes under - your items will get wet. I use these for hygine items and such, but if it has to stay dry (like clothes) pay a bit more for a true dry bag.
I have two
of those Action plastics ammo boxes. I wsed to keep camera supplies in them, but the seals are not totally waterproof. The latch does not provide even pressure on the lid like a metal ammo can does, so the lids tend to pucker a little in the middle and they will leak.
Yes
We resealed them when we got them. You can purchase more expensive boxes as well.
shame on the boxes…
do the more expensive ones float, by chance? i’m thinking of using some Army surplus ammo boxes…cheap and durable. maybe a little too much so; sure the sharp edges can damage a boat if no precautions are taken or you are careless with it.
more than likely, an ammo box won’t float, either.
Ammo Box
Yes the metal ammo boxes didn’t float that’s why we went with the plastic dry boxes and decided to add a better seal to it. Most of what we are using if for is our food for the day in one and cooking items in the other. The food for the entire trip will be stored in a dry bag inside of the kayak. The dry box just has our food for the day for easy access. We were just trying to find something that fit in the back kayak storage area well and you could easily grab and go - especially when it’s raining.
We did look at these, but they are expensive - http://www.dryboxs.com/
Walmart also has a nice dry box, but not sure of how good the seal is if it was to go under water or float -
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4359249
We will use ours on the Suwannee River over Thanksgiving week. Then we’ll decide if it’s worth using them on our Everglades trip in January. There - you get wet!
right on beccka
we’ll be in the Okefenokee the weekend before Thxgvng…maybe we’ll pass each other on the road.
that Dry Box look stout! like you said, a bit pricy, will hold a bunch. it also weighs 16 lbs!