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What Dry Bag do you use for travel?

melensdad

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Currently I'm using an "Amphibious" brand dry bag in 45Liter size. It's a heck of a great bag but I find it a bit too small as it won't hold all the camping gear I carry for myself + my wife. The bag is very tough material, rigid enough that it nearly holds its shape, it has more lash down points and D-Rings than I care to count, a mesh pocket on the outside. Its a "roll top" design, that has an over-flap for added waterproof security and has never let me down. It also has 4 reflective strips on the bag for visibility.

Considering upsizing to something in the 60 to 70 liter size range.

Amphibious makes a 60L, 24.5" wide. 4 reflective strips, mesh exterior pocket, lots of tie down points.
SW-Motech makes 60L that is 27.5" wide. No reflective strips, no exterior pocket, minimal tie down points.
Oxford has a 70L that is 25.5" wide. No reflective strips, exterior zipper pocket, minimal tie down points.
FirstGear has a 70L that is 28" wide. No reflective strips, exterior zipper pocket, lots of tie down points.

What works for you? Photos if possible.

Most of the photos below are "stock images" of what I am using.

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And here it is strapped across my Dale's Rack. The bag is approx 22.5" long. If it was any longer it would make it difficult to access the side luggage while still strapped to the bike.

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I use a FirstGear Torrent 40L -- it was enough for a week in Alaska (but we were riding everyday, not much walking around except dinners, so I didn't need a lot of street clothes).
 
The FirstGear 70L looks really good. I’d like to see one in person. I’m impressed with our FirstGear jackets.
 
Once upon a time, TourAndRide had a Kappa 50 liter bag for half price. I bought it and I use it for camping. All my moto camping gear stays in it all the time: tent, sleeping bag, air mattress, ground cloth, chair, & pillow. See it below in the photos. 50 liter seems like a good size for the NC. I have a smaller red dry bag (forgot the brand at the moment) that straps to the top of this one for really bigs trips on the Goldwing.

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Found it! I posted about my Core bag at the other luggage topic. It is 60L and I don't imagine I'll every be able to fill it. But it is a good accessible place to put rain gear, jacke, spare helmet,t or other bulky light stuff I might pick up on the way. My 80L of saddle bags should hold most camping gear. One side for tent, hammock, fly, footprint and other stuff that might get wet and the other side for food, clothing, sleeping bag, stove, etc I don't want to put wet stuff on top of.
 
Found it! I posted about my Core bag at the other luggage topic. It is 60L and I don't imagine I'll every be able to fill it. ...
I tend to carry my stuff, the camping stuff, and some of my wife's stuff. So that is why I'm considering a bag larger than the 45L bag I currently own.


I mostly use my First Gear 40L when I have more than my Givi Trekker luggage will carry. (Longer trips and camping gear.) I have a 25L First Gear and a 60L Motech.
Honestly the FirstGear 70L is looking very attractive at this point.

If I buy another bag, the FirstGear 70L seems to check off all the boxes except for "visibility"

I'm very happy with my Amphibian and their 60L checks off every box on the wish list, but at $30 more and 10L less than the FirstGear it might be hard to justify.

The other option is for my wife's bike to carry a bit more of our load, that would eliminate the need for a large capacity (60-70 liter) bag for my bike. Hmmmm....
 
I use a 40 liter vinyl roll top dry bag by Seattle Sports It's been on the back of every bike I've toured on since 2005. I Rok Strap it to luggage rack or passenger seat.

It's a dry bag in the truest sense of the word. I only carry my sleeping bag, pillow, air mattress, a kit for making coffee/hot water for dehydrated meals, a change of clothes, and the odds and ends I use inside my tent. When I set up camp I toss it on the ground and it keeps all that inside tent stuff dry. Setting up a tent in the rain is inevitable. Once the tent is set up I bring the dry bag in and have that stuff dry and ready to make a hot meal and when I strike the tent to leave I pack it, seal it, and toss it outside where it keeps that stuff dry. The wet stuff - tent, ground tarp, and rain fly never go in the dry bag. I pack those items elsewhere depending on the bike.
 
Hi all,

I've just come back from a camping trip, with a different place to camp each night - 1,200 miles or so from near Southampton to north Wales, across to Norfolk and down through Kent to come home again. I've got a 60 litre Lomo dry bag, which I attached over the rear seat with a pair of Rok straps.

I've learned some lessons from this first venture into motorcycle camping; I packed too much stuff really, but that bag held quite happily my tent, kitchen equipment, sleeping bag and more. I had some stuff in the Honda side panniers too - but frankly, I don't think much of these panniers: bulky but strange shape means you can't get much in them. Plus, they leaked - not much fun when the items within are all soaked as you arrive!

...Lomo do some 30 litre pannier dry bags too - I'd need to get a pannier rack to mount them too, but I think I'll do that for my next trip. The photo here was north Wales, if you wondered

Link to item on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00E4PNWJS

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Out of necessity, I'm cheap. Never had a high-paying position, so I learned early on to pinch every penny. Having some Scots blood surely helps.
I use the Wally world dry bags, I think they're 40L, and Rok strap them to either the top of the panniers (when I had Tusk large aluminum cases) or to Dale's rack where the passenger seat should be. I fabbed some tie-downs onto the dry bags to run the strap through so the bag cannot slide out.

Never a leak. They're fairly stout and no name to pay for. No handle but the roll top strap, but carrying from bike to tent and back has never been an issue. Tent+fly+footprint+poles+tarp+stakes and line in one; sleeping bag and assorted odds and ends in the other. Sleeping pad gets its own dry bag, one amazon was letting go cheap, 20L if memory serves (although my memory is a poor servant and usually shows up late for work.)
All this may change: I just switched to the soft cases and lose a bit of space. Next camping trip will be end of June if the forest fire danger allows. But I doubt I'll change the dry bags for something else. I'm sure other brands are higher quality, but the quality of the ones I have fits what I need.
 
I own the 40L Firstgear Torrent bag. While I haven't had it out in heavy rains, it has managed to keep everything dry. It's heavy duty fabric that will trap air inside if you don't squeeze it out prior to rolling it up. As far as visibility, in the location you have it on your bike, most of it is obscured by you tail bag from behind and you body from the front. You could always add some more LEDs.

Side note, where did you get the matching paint for your luggage?
 
I own the 40L Firstgear Torrent bag. While I haven't had it out in heavy rains, it has managed to keep everything dry. It's heavy duty fabric that will trap air inside if you don't squeeze it out prior to rolling it up. As far as visibility, in the location you have it on your bike, most of it is obscured by you tail bag from behind and you body from the front. You could always add some more LEDs.

Side note, where did you get the matching paint for your luggage?
I've had some pretty thick rain on my Firstgear dry bag. Never leaked. Neither have my Honda panniers for that matter.

The side panel which matches the paint of @Paulplex is an OEM accessory which only comes in that color. I think it looks nice on my Candy Red '17
 
I have a Wolfman Expedition Duffel, large size, that I bought about 8 years ago. Image below is from the Wolfman site.

I managed to find the receipt in my email . . . I must have been feeling pretty flush at the time. Right now this thing is selling for $160 on the Wolfman site. Even at the time I remember wondering if it was worth the cost. Not sure I would be so free with my money nowadays!

My buyer's remorse evaporated pretty quickly. The material is some type of thick rubberized fabric (I think), seams are strong, lots of straps and options for tying down. If I'm camping, I throw pretty much all the camping gear in here (except the sleeping bag) and strap it across the back seat. I've also filled it with *a lot* of firewood for short hauls . . . when the top is not rolled down, the bag is gigantic.

The only downside I can think of is, if you need to carry it off the bike, the handles and shoulder strap are not comfortable. But as a dry bag for touring, no complaints.

For better visibility, I probably should have bought the bright yellow version instead. (Correction: it looks like the yellow has been discontinued?). But I would recommend this bag without hesitation.

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I realize this is an old post but wanted to share mine since didn't see any examples of the SW-Motech bags.
I had the 600 but sized down to the 350 since they hold a lot more than the round drybags do. I like this brand because it has the attachment clips on the top so you can connect a smaller bag which I prefer over having a wider bag since I dont have side cases.
I also prefer that the straps aren't attached to the bag itself for easy removal. I had a previous bag that you had to undo the straps to remove the bag from the bike.

For example, I can fit 2 full to the top re-usable grocery bags measuring 16"x9" side by side in the bag and still close it a half curl plus have an extra 5 inches of room on the sides to stuff some more in. The overall shape gives it a lot more room than some of the other brands Ive seen.

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