Drybag or Backpack?
...What if you didn't have to choose?
Something that both our jobs (working aboard an expedition ship) as well as our daily life (doing things like paddle boarding, diving, hiking and living on the west coast of BC) all have one common theme…
A whole lot of fun!
Well, more seriously (and relevant to this article)…water.
Water is wonderful in SO many ways, it’s calming and refreshing and exhilarating all at once. For both myself and Steve being on or in the water has always been our happy place.
Something else that we love is photography and documenting our adventures. Unfortunately not everything mixes as well with water as we do, especially photography gear.
Now the problem is only enhanced by my utter clumsiness, for some reason particularly around expensive electronic gear… I have killed 2 phones, 1 drone and several cameras to the mighty H2O…which might suggest to you that I should simply just not have nice things… The problem is that more than half of those things on that list of dead electronics…were Steve’s. The way it goes is that Steve has nice things and Casey breaks them… Oopsies…
Anyway, so when we found out we were going to be driving zodiacs in Antarctica (hello dream job…) we knew we 1 – had to take ALL the camera gear and 2 – HAD to have some way to protect it from the crazy elements down there!
We set about searching out a couple of dry bags. Now the thing is, Steve used to own a rafting company, we had a LOT of dry bags. But what we wanted was a dry bag and daypack combined. Which surprisingly are quite hard to come by! It is easy enough to find a simple roll top dry bag and even one with simple backpack straps.
However, the sweet spot was to find a drybag that not only kept our gear dry when we were driving with ski goggles as it was raining so much…but also one that had comfortable backpack straps. This meant that when we got to shore and had to assist on guiding a hike or kicking steps into a steep snowy hill, we would have all our (dry) gear with us and be as comfortable ashore as we were at sea!
Enter Aqua Quest!!
Aqua Quest Waterproof are a Canadian company based on Vancouver Island, this is just across the water from us and being local is a huge draw to us.
Since 1994 they have been designing and manufacturing all sorts of waterproof gear from their very first waterproof money belt to tarps and bivvies as well as backpacks and laptop bags.
Bingo.
A locally sourced company that produced 100% waterproof drybags where real people actually answer the phone! And with comfortable backpack straps and even a waist and chest strap! Ding ding ding ding! We have a winner!
We excitedly checked out their products and they had lots of different options to offer.
We eventually settled on a bag from their ‘Classic’ range; the Sport 30L backpack (shown above). A simple and practical drybag but with the added bonus of side pockets and comfortable straps. I also liked that there were two side pockets so one could hold my water and the other my tea (or coffee in Steve’s case), very important when you work on the Southern Ocean!
So let’s look at it in a little more detail…
Material
I was a little skeptical at first as it’s not that classic rubber-y ‘drybag’ material. Instead it was RipStop material with a lamination and coating. It looked like normal material to me and I wasn’t sure it would remain dry after a good soaking. However, I was happily mistaken!
After spending many days sitting in the bottom of the zodiac not only getting splashed fairly regularly but also literally sitting in a pool of water, the insides remained dry! The exterior of the bag was pretty wet, and I guess that’s the downside of this kind of material, is it absorbs water moreso than the rubber-y material of a more traditional drybag. The contents remained dry but this is something to consider if you are going on extended hiking trips and don’t want your pack to be wet the whole time. I personally prefer this type of material as it packs down smaller into our luggage as well as reduces the sweat factor!
The RipStop portion of it also definitely works! These bags (we have two) have been chucked around fairly haphazardly and have amazingly not ripped! So RipStop officially stops the rips….Who would have thought it? It does what it says on the tin!
Size and Structure
30 litres is a substantial amount of space. Their other backpacks range from 20 to 40 litres whilst also offering duffels to the same quality up to 100 litres, amazing!
I already mentioned the two side pockets which are really great, particularly as they each have a draw string to keep your water bottle (or whatever you choose to store here) secure.
The structure itself is extremely robust with double heat taped seams and lots of D rings and clip in points. The D rings are all plastic rather than metal but seem pretty tough and haven’t failed us yet! Even though it is a backpack/day bag style it still has the classic and easy roll down top of a drybag. One thing that I think this bag would benefit greatly from is some sort of inner compartments or pockets. Maybe that’s just me but I really love compartments in a bag as it helps me to stay organised. However there is an easy way around this which I mention at the end here.
Comfort
This was really key for us as it had to act not only as a drybag but also as a daypack. Obviously we couldn’t try it on as we were ordering online but from the photos, the description and phoning to speak to someone at the store we had a pretty good idea of the product and we were certainly not disappointed when it arrived.
There is an awesome padded mesh back panel which is great to reduce sweating when in warming climates. As well as using this bag in the extreme cold of Antarctica we also used it whilst working in the hotter climates of Central America and we were extremely grateful for this panel. The straps themselves are also padded and not your typical flimsy drybag straps. Padded mesh shoulder straps as well as a simple waist and chest strap help take the weight off your shoulders. There are even some reflective strips running down the outside of the straps (and some other points on the bag) to make you more visible and keep you safe in low light situations.
Pricepoint
Drumroll please…
The 30L Sport backpack comes in at a pretty reasonable $89.99. This might seem like a lot but it is really extremely economical. Compared to other comparable dry bags on the market these guys beat them hands down for quality as well as customer support. There is a real person on the other end of the phone to answer any concerns or queries you might have. In addition to this they offer a 2 year ‘No Worries warranty’ on all their products!
Now in this day and age of 30 day guarantees (or less!) and a ‘if it breaks, buy another one’ kind of attitude, 2 years is pretty significant! Even Lifeproof have decreased their warranty to 1 year. To us this is a huge selling point as it means you are buying quality over quantity and it really does give you peace of mind. So in our opinion? A totally reasonable pricepoint.
Extras
I mentioned earlier about my solution to the lack of compartments inside the bag. It’s using bags inside bags! The Coastal Sunset drybag set is a set of 4 drybags in varying sizes and awesome colours. (Now bearing in mind that the hardest part for me was deciding whether I wanted the blue or red 30L Sports backpack…I just about lost my mind over the awesome bright colours the Coastal Sunset bags come in!)
We use these both independently and in conjunction with our backpacks. They work great on the front of our paddleboards for our phones, car keys and other small items and similarly they work wonderfully for the same purpose but insidethe 30L Sports pack. I use these to make it easier to find my smaller items inside the 30L pack as well as give myself extra peace of mind by providing an essentially 200% waterproof cover to that precious camera equipment!
A great bonus and at $79.99 for all four bags (5, 10, 20 and 30 litres) it’s really good value for money, coming with the same 2 year warranty.
Summary
So, overall, I would totally, 100% recommend these drybag backpacks if you are looking for a practical, comfortable daypack that will protect your gear and give you peace of mind whereever you might be adventuring!
We have used these packs as well as the Sunset Coastal set for driving boats in Antarctica, diving in Central America, paddleboarding in Canada and hiking in Iceland! A pretty robust and versatile bag I’m sure you’ll agree!
I’ll leave you with some easy pros and cons to help in your decision in buying your next drybag.
Pros:
- Comfortable straps
Durable material
2 year ‘No Worries Warranty’
Local company with real people on the other side of the phone
Cons:
No inner compartments
Exterior can get quite wet and shows salt stains
Doesn’t work (empty) as a pillow but I don’t think this is a deal breaker!
Take it from us, if you need a drybag-backpack combo, make it an Aqua Quest!
Check out their website here.
