Dry Bags for Transporting Wet Wetsuits

Dry bags a special bags that are made out of 100% waterproof material on constructed without using any stitches. Instead the material is glued or welded together. This results in a bag that has no holes and in completely waterproof. There are countless uses for for dry bags from sailing, kayaking, stand up paddling, travel, going to the beach… to finally surfing. As a surfers I use dry bags in two ways. First, to keep all my stuff dry when things get wet. Rain, boat trips and being close to the sea or on the sea all the time means the chances of some of your things getting wet are high. So if you want to keep something dry no matter what – put it in a dry bag (and then don’t forget to close the bag:) ). And secondly, dry bags are perfect for transporting wet wetsuits. If you don’t want your wet wetsuit to drip all over your car you can put it inside a dry bag and problem solved!

In this short review I have checked three different DryTide dry bags that came out recently. They are all really well made, the material used is heavy duty, completely waterproof, durable and it looks great! The also feature cool logos with animals. Each animal size indicating the size of the bag. Small seagull for 5 liter bag, surfing bear for 15 liter bag and a what for the biggest 30 liter bag. I would say 90% of the dry bags are really lame and cheap looking bags, so it refreshing to see bags that will keep your things dry as well as look good.

As said there are 3 different bags available. They are all made using same material and construction so I won’t repeat the material part. I will just mention what is different with each bag.

5 Liter Dry Bag

You won’t be able to stuff your wetsuit inside this one (although it would fit a wetsuit top). The 5 liter bag is perfect for protecting your smaller items when on or near the sea. Phone, wallet, car keys… It’s also big enough to keep your DSLR camera safe together with two lenses! I never leave for Indo without a couple of these.

15 Liter Dry Bag

This one is obviously bigger. I managed to fit one thick hooded winter wetsuit (xcel 5/4) together with gloves and booties inside this one, so its perfect for after session wet wetsuit transport. With winter wetsuit, gloves and booties there is no extra room left though. So if you want to be a bit more comfortable get the 30 liter version. But loose the gloves and booties and stuff in a 3/2 summer wetsuits and you will have plenty of room.

30 Liter Dry Bag

The biggest one in the range. The whale. This one fits two wet thick winter wetsuits. So using it to store one wetsuits with loots of extra gear is a breeze. Towels, ponchos, water bottles, snacks, spare clothes…no problem. I usually stick a 5 liter dry bag on the top so I have only one piece to carry around. A extra bonus with this bag is that is can be used as a waterproof backpack! It has two removable shoulder straps (5l in 15l only have one) so you can carry it on your back and not only over your shoulder.

It also has an external pocket that has a waterproof zipper. Waterproof zipper are expensive and non existent on these kind of bags. But if the purpose of the external pocket is to store your phone and keys to keep them close, then they should be safe inside the pocket! And the DryTide 30l Whale dry bag makes sure they are. Zipper will even stop water if you let the bag float on the sea surface zipper down. I would not recommend however pushing the bag underwater. Added water pressure can make even this kind of zipper leak. And the roll down top that all the dry bags out there use for closing the bags can not handle longer submersion anyway. Dry bags are not made to be pushed under water (non of them).

Anyway, if you need a really cool looking and high quality bags to store your wet wetsuits, then these three are highly recommended. The price is very reasonable as well.