I just made another dry bag for my new camera and was reminded about what a cool trick this is (one of my favorite gear tips from Paddlewise). For the benefit of those who aren't familiar with this trick--it uses heat sealable fabric, (available from http://www.seattlefabrics.com/nylons.html -- no affiliation with me) using Chuck Holst's article on this subject as a guide (see http://www.paddlewise.net/topics/boatequip/drybag.pdf). After having done this a few times, I can pretty much make a custom dry bag of virtually any shape in about an hour (it would be much faster than that if I were better at the sewing part). This is a particularly nice technique for odd or large shaped items (like for a thermarest pad, camera, vhf radio, tent, etc) where off-the-rack drybags either aren't available or don't fit very well. Plus, they're much cheaper than commercially made bags (although the fabric now runs US$12.75 or $16.75 per yard for the regular or heavy-duty stuff). Heck, you could even make one for your laptop computer, hibachi pot, dvd player and all those other gotta-have-'em but expendable things you carry on your rear deck :-) Evan Dallas Woodinville Washington *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Regarding dry bags for cameras, one thing you can do is make a dry bag insert for a standard camera bag. I chose a Lowe Pro Elite bag several years ago, because it is narrow enough to fit in the cockpit between my knees, yet holds an SLR body, three lenses, a flash, film, and accessories. It also converts to a fanny pack. I removed the partitions from the bag, and then made a square-bottomed dry bag that fits snugly inside. The dry bag has velcro patches inside it that allowed me to reassemble the camera bag's partitions *inside* the dry bag. More velcro patches on the outside of the dry bag hold it firmly inside the camera bag. I sealed the stiching for the velcro by hot-sealing patches of the heat-sealable material over it. The buckle and webbing are smaller than usual because of the need to fit under the camera bag lid. In testing this arrangement, I found that some seepage can occur if the bag is immersed. However, the bag always floats right side up, even fully loaded, partly because of the foam padding used in the camera case, and partly because of the air trapped in the dry bag. The only drawback to this arrangement is that carrying the camera bag between my knees makes it more difficault to get into and out of the boat. My one unintentional test of the bag happened when I capsized while trying to get into the kayak while it was floating -- normally, not a problem for me. Chuck Holst *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:37 PDT