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Differentiating dry bags

pawsplus

pawsplus

Paddler
Joined
Jan 19, 2015
Messages
1,063
Location
Landlocked in Tennessee
I used to have only a few, b/c I used these honking big 20L ones in the other boat. Now I have 10L ones for the smaller boat (and a few 5L) and there are so many--I can't keep track, so I have to keep opening up bags to check what's in them.

So I just ordered a big bunch of colored zip ties. I'm going to color-code the dry bags after packing: Green=food; red=clothing, etc. That way I can remember what's in them. I did that on this trip just with ONE bag--my day bag, the one with the extra fleece and socks and lunch in it--and it worked great. It and the first aid kit bag were the only ones I was sure about all weekend LOL (the first aid kit and the flashlight are in the only 5L orange bag, so I know what's in that).

Hope this will help!
 
I have bought my bags over time and from many different companies and in many different colors, so mine are easy to differentiate (though not always easy to remember what is in each one).

A permanent solution is to write what it in a bag in magic marker on the bag. But that doesn't allow you to change contents for future trips.

I've seen some who write the contents in masking tape which they place on the bags.
 
Yeah, I wrote on the other ones and then promptly realized that doesn't work b/c different trips require different things! I, too, have different colored bags, but I can't count on having the right number of green bags for every trip. And tape leaves a sticky residue. I like the zip ties b/c I can change them easily, so they will work no matter what. Now if I can just figure out how to pack around the skeg box LOL . . . !
 
I've stitched loops of different colours of grosgrain ribbon through the D ring or webbing on the dry bag or stuff sack. I've seem others who did similar and then wrote on the ribbon.
 
That would work. But it's a lot easier to just cut off a zip tie and replace it w/ another color--no sewing involved. ;-) I feel as if I spend an inordinate amount of time packing before a trip and then re-packing ON trips, and I hope this will streamline things. I had to order a new Ikea bag anyway, as one of mine disappeared at the put-in (still not sure how that happened!) so figured I'd tack on the zip ties to my Amazon order. ;-)
 
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Over time, we evolved our drybag packing so that the four or five different colors and two or three different sizes developed a consistent pattern.

One helpful trick was packing different kinds of small things into homemade 1 to 1.5 Liter ripstop nylon bags, various shapes, equipped with shoelace drawstrings, of various colors. In camp, this allowed us to yard everything out of the drybags as needed, and toss them into an Ikea bag until evening, and on packup (or critter protection time at night), we just slid stuff back into the original drybags. The ripstop made for more efficient packing because it slid better than other fabrics/plastic bags, etc.
 
Yes--that's a good idea. Not a lot really fits into a 10L drybag, I'm finding. But hey--it's making me a more efficient packer. I took everything but the kitchen sink in my fat boat with the big hatch covers--including a GRILL LOL. That will no longer fit unless I put it on the deck. :(
 
Paws, one more idea to consider: custom made drybags tailored to fit into longer, narrow spaces such as some boats have on either side of the skeg box. We did this on a folder for a while, loading the bags with softer stuff like camp clothing, bags of rice or elbow macaroni, or maybe small tarps. We made these out of heat-sealing nylon pack cloth. Not as durable as the heavier vinyl drybags, but with the nylon outer surface, these slid in or out of tight places pretty well. A couple feet of eighth inch nylon line, tied to a D-ring on the closure, makes it easier to retrieve these. Seattle Fabrics via mailorder was our source for this as well as other sewing notions, straps, nyloc closures, etc. Link to a sample pack: http://www.seattlefabrics.com/Heat-...MIl_XR1o_C2gIVQmSGCh2e6AXLEAQYASABEgI91fD_BwE

Buckles galore: http://www.seattlefabrics.com/Side-Center-Release-Buckles_c_314.html
 
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Long ago, I loaded up my bags for a 7 day trip and with a scale and strips of duct tape, I marked the weight on strips applied to each bag - these were the rubberized dry bags of old, not the newer light nylon ones. That exercise helped me pack with a better sense of weight distribution over just guessing. But I only did that once. Now that I have a sense of the general distribution for food, clothing, shelter, water, I sort of wing it. It is not "absolute" because I might modify the distribution depending on wind/current direction for better handling.

Paws, Here is something not to buy - you can make it!

I think you were trying out a hammock at one time. Something I've used several times - when there are sufficient trees - is a gear hammock. This is a small, about 5 ft, hammock made out of a yard or so of nylon from the fabric store.

I've found that if I have to take something out of a dry bag once, I usually have to take it out again. So as items come out of bags, instead of going back, they accumulate in the gear hammock. The advantage is, there is enough room in the gear hammock so everything is spread out and easy to find. And I'm standing up rather than wrestling with bags on the ground - like walking over to a kitchen drawer to get silverware to set the table instead of picking knives/forks/spoons off the floor.

My gear hammock was made of waterproof material with a top flap/cover. But it could also be suspended under a tarp if it was just ripstop nylon.

The gear hammock is more stuff to mess with and I wouldn't use it if I knew I was going to pack up and move camp each day. But it is much nicer to retrieve things if I'm going to be in the same camp for a few days.
 
Gear hammock: inspired, designer. My knuckle dragger approach has been to hook the drawstrings of my ripstop bags onto the small twig nubbins sticking out from tarp poles.
 
I have lots of 5’s and some 10’s plus a few other odd shaped bags. Not a lot of different colors but the same things always go into the same bags and each bag only has one place in my boat. It makes it easy to know where to look for something and what is in each bag without opening it. Packing and unpacking is always in the same order. I use two beach bags. One for the gear in the rear hatch and day hatch and the other is for the front hatch, storage between my feet/ front bulkhead and anything coming out or going into my under deck bag. Placement of gear is balanced along the length of the boat and only fluctuates with water supply and food consumption. Food weight has little effect but water weight may be compensated for by Dromedary Bag placement and what the expected wind and sea conditions are.

Works for me. Keeps me clear on where things are and helps ensure that I don’t leave anything behind.


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