For short trips, I still my non-waterproof phone into a dry bag within a dry bag. I use a clamp style dry bag for the inner (mostly because I have one), and standard roll top for outer. But even in a ziplock (thicker material freezer bag is better than standard) or other dry bag for inner would likely keep it dry should a little water find its way into the roll top dry bag.
I have a pelican dry box I use for a DSLR.
Clothing and food usually is fine in a standard dry bag. Paddling.camping clothing generally avoids cotton, so even if it got a little wet, it would dry quickly and/or still provide thermal or waterproof functions.
I’m with Celia, I’ve never had a problems roll-top dry bags inside a kayak’s sealed compartments.
The bulkheads on my 26 yr old kayak do need recaulking, so I am presently getting a small amount of water ingress, but as long as I close the roll-top correctly, there is no problem. I also have good quality drybags (Seal Line, Sea-to-Summit, MEC) which I think is also key.
I enjoyed reading the magazine article that Peter-CA gave a link to.
We’ve been paddling Texas rivers for a number of years. About 500 miles and over 30 nights camped. I’m doing a series of videos on various rivers, but I’m in the middle of doing a few videos on preparing where I am going to talk about the gear I bring. I will be publishing one of those in the next few weeks. I’m going to talk about sleeping gear, cooking gear, and storage. Subscribe if you would like a notification of when that one drops. I do like roll top bags. Here’s my channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOb_BCCjB0iM-rZjhxtsNZQ
Roll-top dry bags are an easy DIY project and you can make then any size or shape you need. All it takes is some heat-seal Nylon or polyester fabric, some 3/4" flat webbing and matching plastic Fastex-type buckles. The heat-seal fabric is folded and sealed to itself on two sides using a regular clothes iron. Sew some webbing and a buckle on the open side and you’ve got a dry bag. It really is that simple and they work great. I’m sure there’s instructions online if you search.
I made a few 20 years ago and they’re still in use.
Thanks for all the replies everyone! I think I’m going with a Watershed dry bag for sleeping bag, pads, tent, and sleeping clothes and sea-to-summit (i just like that company) roll tops for everything else. I may use some of the ideas here for double bagging the roll tops.
Thanks for all the help, much appreciated! I love reading all the DIY ideas too… gets the brain thinking and the hands doing.
I have two watershed bags. Great design, top notch materials. I lubricate the zip lock seal when it starts to get a bit difficult to close, about once a month. I use 303.
I use a Feathercraft Kahuna and load it with a myriad of small roll top dry (damp) bags. For critical items I double bag. I never want, and have never had, my sleeping bag get wet. I don’t use the sea sock that came with the boat as where I normally paddle (Thailand) it is just too warm. It is not that hard to keep mud, water and sand out of the boat. Before a big trip I turn all the dry bags inside out and fill them with water to see what happens. Leaks are Aquasealed. It’s amazing how much money you end up spending on dry bags… I use one or two bear vaults as well to keep Rodentius Commonus at bay.
Thanks to everyone for this thread! I’ve spent hours reading similar posts, so I thought I’d share where I landed after the results of all that research. My wife and I do whitewater tripping in a canoe. Our kids join us in kayaks. Note that I tend to go for overkill, as I’d rather be a little heavier and take a little longer than be worrying during storms, when we dump and swim, etc. Canoes also always have 2" of water in the bottom when you’re doing whitewater, so your load is sitting in water all day.
What I’ve Learned:
There’s no such thing as a single bag that’s waterproof (submersion) without spending north of $250. Trying to get one or two bags to waterproof everything is over-overkill and not budget friendly. It also blows all your cash on one layer of protection; no redundancy.
A good way to control costs is to be very discerning re: what /actually/ needs to be waterproof. Ex. your sleeping bag does need to be waterproof; it’s your security against hypothermia and emergencies. Electronics, first aid, and fire starter should be waterproof. Your tent and clothing only really needs to be water resistant. Tent fly, poles, pegs, chairs, tarps can get wet. Your equipment can get wet. Most food can get wet (just wash it first!). Etc.
Every solution requires testing and maintenance. Checking for leaks. Storing it correctly. Oiling and cleaning rubber closure gaskets. No such thing as fire-and-forget. Also how you can amortize your costs across dozens of trips.
The best way to get cheaper solutions to be waterproof is through redundancy. Multiple layers of cheap, small bags are often less expensive and easier to pack than expensive, larger bags.
You need puncture and abrasion resistance as well as waterproofing.
Actually sealing the bag properly–folding the tops, not rolling, etc–matters as much if not more than the quality.
Where I’ve Landed - Canoeing:
Food and equipment go in a 60L blue canoe barrel. (Recreational Barrel Works)
Fire starter, first aid, electronics, and LifeStraw water filter go in an expensive waterproof backpack. (Watershed Big Creek. Doubles as my day pack.)
Everything else goes in an expedition portage pack for abrasion. (Recreational Barrel Works)
First layer of waterproofing is achieved by the portage pack liner. (Recreational Barrel Works)
Second layer of protection is achieved by smaller, cheap, discount dry bags. (Amazon Earthpack, etc.)
Third layer of protection is achieved by goosenecking trash compactor (not contractor) garbage bags. (Any unscented.)
You line the dry bag with the trash compactor bag. Put the gear in the compactor bag, compress it down, then gooseneck the top with a reusable elastic. Then you compress and roll the dry bag 3 times, making sure there’s still a little air in it to help seal the roll. Those 5L, 10L, and 20L dry bags get packed in the portage pack liner, which is also compressed and rolled. It then goes into the expedition portage pack for abrasion protection and carrying.
Make sure there is no upwards pressure on the lid of the barrel from inside. You can’t force it closed, as that breaks the gasket seal.
The exception is the sleeping bag, which I pack in a heavy duty compression dry bag. That also goes in the portage pack liner, but benefits from the extra compression and protection.
Where I’ve Landed - Kayaking:
Everything above, with these exceptions…
We skip the barrel (obviously) and put our equipment and food in old, repaired, or even leaking dry bags. Mostly just for ease of packing and sorting.
We skip the portage pack liner, as that first layer of waterproofing is provided by the sealed bulkheads.
The expedition pack stays empty and gets stuffed into the kayak for use during portages.
Another endorsement here for trash compactor bags. I started using them 20 some years ago for bagging small heavy loads of construction demo (took a LOT of lathe and plaster out of my second house) and for bagging cat litter. Began to really appreciate how tough they are and started using them to bag stuff for paddling and backpacking. They are a smaller size than contractor trash bags, just about right to shove in a hatch or wedge under a canoe seat and come with a drawstring in a tunnel hem around the top – I tighten the drawstring, then gooseneck the bag, fold over the tip and do a double wrap of the stretchy plastic drawstring (it’s really more of a ribbon) around the twisted part and double overhand knot it. In the canoes I tucked them into plastic or waterproofed fabric grab bags with loop handles or duffels so they could be secured and more protected from puncture. Never had a leak and pretty easy to open and close.
I like the trash compactors better than the contractor bags but see the trash compactor bags less in Lowe’s now so sometimes make do with the contractor bags They are way too big.
If I’m living right, I got dry shoes and socks to put on after a day of paddling. I bought insurance for the phone/camera!