# keeping stuff dry when you flip your raft.



## slamkal (Apr 8, 2009)

7. T-up so you don't hit a wave or a hole sideways. Its really rare to see a boat flip end over end.
8. High side when you can't T up or when a side of the boat dips into a hole.
9. Don't let your passengers pull the boat over on top of them when they are falling out of the boat.

Don't ever let anyone toss your drybags onto shore when unloading your boat. #1 cause of leaks. After trip is over take them to your friends pool and fill them up with water then identify (using pen) where the leaks are. then pvc patch from the inside.

When sealing a drybag be sure to push as much air out as possible compressing the bag before you do your roll. Make sure to do a tight roll as described (sealines are different than the other bags but they all have the same concept.)

I wouldn't expect a drybag to survive more than a few seconds completely submerged.

Never bring cotton on any river trip. If you have fleece it can still insulate if wet.


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## wildh2onriver (Jul 21, 2009)

or, you could buy quality dry bags---such as those made by Watershed. we had a boat on an Alaska river flip and pin under a huge sweeper for 2+ days. The only bags completely dry--Watershed. Everything else has was soaked and had a couple inches of sediment in it.


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## okieboater (Oct 19, 2004)

Watershed and Jacks Plastic Welding - both have worked for me.


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## Dave Frank (Oct 14, 2003)

Nice Bruno. Did it go straight over backwards, or more of a twisting flip?

I've always push forward and just right of the meat there, but all the guides I've watched pull back with a little left angle right through the center.

THe one time my boat flipped, (Rubber at 6') The dre box did take on a half gallon or more in the ten minutes it was upside-down.

All my dry bags stayed dry. They were mostly Seal lines with the good black bar at the top. I think if those are full and rolled right with no wrinkles, they stay dry, but any imperfection in the closure could fail. 

Watersheds are the way to go if it really matters.


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## carvedog (May 11, 2005)

slamkal said:


> Don't ever let anyone toss your drybags onto shore when unloading your boat. #1 cause of leaks. After trip is over take them to your friends pool and fill them up with water then identify (using pen) where the leaks are. then pvc patch from the inside.
> 
> When sealing a drybag be sure to push as much air out as possible compressing the bag before you do your roll. Make sure to do a tight roll as described (sealines are different than the other bags but they all have the same concept.)
> 
> ...


Ok wait just a minute here.....

Never let anyone throw your drybag onto shore until you have made a nice cushion of kayaker drybags. Durrr....


I would not want to lift my dry bag full o water. How do you do this?

I have had good success poking my head up in mine with sharpie in hand in a bright room or outside. Pretty easy to see the breeches. 

I definitely get most of the air out but I am actually looking for the feeling of air in the bag. Balloonish if you will, so I know I have a seal. 

And I absolutely expect my drybags to stay dry for a couple of hours. 

While I don't wear wet cotton except when hot, I can't wait until I can slip on some nice dry cotton at the end of a long wet day. So good. 

Interesting story hear about a Watershed being grated on the cheese grater at Lava for a few hours. Well that's not what the story is about but look at the pics and you can see the bag with all straps ripped off and still dry. 

Rafting the West | Links


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## slamkal (Apr 8, 2009)

carvedog said:


> Ok wait just a minute here.....
> 
> Never let anyone throw your drybag onto shore until you have made a nice cushion of kayaker drybags. Durrr....
> 
> ...


40l ~= 10gal ~ 80lbs. And realistically all you need is half full, close the top and test the upper half upside down. 

A larger (115) yeah stick your head in there but my head and shoulders won't fit into a smaller drybag.

And I was referring to the idiots who (besides their river gear) all they bring are t-shirts and jeans and then freeze if their drybag hasn't been tossed on the kayaker bags ...


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## carvedog (May 11, 2005)

slamkal said:


> 40l ~= 10gal ~ 80lbs. And realistically all you need is half full, close the top and test the upper half upside down.


I thought about that later that you really only need a couple of gallons and that would be a great idear for my day bag as I don't fit into that one, not even my head. 

I was mostly just flipping you shit, I hope you know.


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## Andy H. (Oct 13, 2003)

I remember down at Hecla once seeing a bunch of guides tossing their peeps' drybags onto the gravel and thinking "those are only going to be "kinda" drybags next time out." 

-AH


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## funrivers (May 14, 2008)

Part of rigging to flip is realizing that dry bags aren't always that dry. I get trash compactor bags and line all the stuff sacks that have the "must not get wet" things in them (clothing, sleeping bag, pillow). Squeeze the air out, twist the ends and tuck em in. Then put the lined stuff sacks in the dry bag.


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## blutzski (Mar 31, 2004)

I got pulled back into the hole and then corkscrewed with my right rear tube getting sucked down. I'm actually glad it happened since, being a new rafter, my biggest concern was flipping a fully loaded 16 footer, getting back on and getting the boat back upright. Turns out it wasn't that big of a deal. But the crew I was with was awesome. A paddle boat full of never-evers with a good guide pushed me into any eddy that i didn't think they were going to be able to make and two experienced boaters were waiting on shore with ropes. Strong work. They did forget to make me do a bootie beer but maybe that's because they beer-bonged it all the night before.


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## El Flaco (Nov 5, 2003)

blutzski said:


> They did forget to make me do a bootie beer but maybe that's because they beer-bonged it all the night before.


Is there a statute of limitations on that? 

I couldn't have enforced that rule even if it had occurred to me - the last thing I needed to see was beer coming out of a stank, festering neoprene shoe.









Sock-it was at a saucy level - there was another flip just after we got Bruno's boat upright. I was getting re-circ'd in the magnetic eddy on the bottom left when it happened, and from what I could tell it was more a function of needing more speed + oar blades planted deep in the current before hitting the hole. They got themselves back on the bottom of the boat quick, and the fact that they rigged-to-flip very tightly helped make the flip-back pretty easy. Great day~

The compactor bags are a good idea. I used to do that with my sleeping bags when I was going to camp after a potential flip day.


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## Avatard (Apr 29, 2011)

carvedog said:


> I thought about that later that you really only need a couple of gallons and that would be a great idear for my day bag as I don't fit into that one, not even my head.
> 
> I was mostly just flipping you shit, I hope you know.


F'in Pinheads!!


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