|
| Home | Guest - Not logged in | |||
|
» Register
» Login
Gear Reviews
Documents
Tools
» Contact
|
Reviews > Stuff Sacks > Dry Bags > Pacific Outdoor Equip Pneumo LTW Dry Bag > Heather Oakes Palmer > Field ReportField Report Pneumo LTW Dry BagsJune 20, 2006 Tester Info:
Name: Heather Oakes Palmer Backpacking Background: I consider myself an intermediate hiker and beginning backpacker for over five years; my longest backpacking trip being only three nights. Day hiking and weekend backpacking comprise most of my weekend warrior experience averaging one backpacking trip per month and two day hikes per month averaging between 10-15 miles (16.1- 24.2 km) per day. I tend to backpack in warm, humid climates, with a good amount of hiking in the southern Appalachian Mountains and I have rarely hiked in below freezing or snowy conditions yet. I am a lightweight backpacker and buy my gear accordingly, often splitting various objects and amounts of weight with my husband. Product Information:
Manufacturer: Pacific Outdoor Equipment Product Description: The Pneumo LTW is the lighter version of the dry bags made by Pacific Outdoor Equipment with the same basic structure; long rectangle shape with fabric that does not stretch very much, bright orange color, roll-top closure on the ‘top’ with plastic clip closure, valve on the ‘bottom’ for inflating and deflating, and slits on either side of the valve for putting rope or cord through. The outside of the bag is slightly transparent with little lines like a grid on it. From the website: “These lightweight dry bags feature: welded construction, roll top closure, compression purge/fill valve, and a 40Dx30D ripstop fabric and a refined closure.” The bags are meant for anyone who might need to keep gear or food dry from boaters to backpackers. Field Conditions: I tested the bags during day hikes, car camping, and overnight backpacking trips in the Georgia and North Carolina Mountains. The average mountain elevations ranged from 2000 – 5500 ft (610-1676 m) and the average elevations of day hikes near Atlanta was 1400-1700 ft (427-518 m). The temperature has been anywhere from 60 F to the low 90’s F (15.5 C to 32.2 C) during the day and was as low as 43 F (6.11 C) one night with most nights in the mid 60’s F (18 C). I have tested the bags in mostly forest and mountain trails, but I’ve also tested the bag on a gorge trip which involved wading through whitewater on an unmarked trail. Field Report: During the testing period so far, I have used dry bag primarily for the storage of clothing and valuables inside of my pack. I have used the bag as overnight storage hanging it from a tree, and also letting it sit on low damp ground that became a puddle by morning. The bag has taken a swim in a fast moving creek near Atlanta, and a whitewater river in a deep north Georgia gorge. Both in my bathroom and on the trail the bag has taken a couple of showers as well. Overall the dry bag is very easy to open, close, inflate, and deflate. At the nearby state park where I often hike between 10-12 miles (16.1- 19.3 km) with a full pack, the dry bag was used as storage in the pack. During a snack break as I lounged on a rock on the creek, I tied a rope to the compressed bag and tested how dry the gear inside of it would remain. Leaving it in the water a few minutes, the contents of the bag were still dry. During a backpacking trip on the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina, the days and nights were overcast with small amounts of rain. Using my packcover while hiking, the rain never gained enough teeth to cause anything inside my pack let alone the dry bag, to get wet. Overnight I stored some gear in the inflated dry bag and set it on the damp ground. By morning the ground was considerably marshier and the dry bag had a good coat of dew, but the bag still kept everything inside of it dry. A good test of the dry bag came when we hiked in permit-only Tallulah gorge state park. The ‘trail’ is actually not marked so we pretty much just hiked where we could find dry land or the water wouldn’t carry us away; meaning that the short but strenuous hike consisted of jumping on rocks, climbing over bigger rocks, wading in waist deep whitewater, and then climbing up more rocks in the sun. Following the river, I managed to get the dry bag wet a few times. I dragged the bag in the river, dunked it in waist deep water, and let it float in a slow moving swimming area. The worst thing that happened to the bag or anything it was that I had to scrape moss off of it. Nothing inside got wet, even after a brief dunking in the cold water.
The bag is also useful to me as a compression sack. I have been able to compress my down sleeping bag, clothing, cell phone, and pack towel all into the same sized space usually occupied by my sleeping bag alone. Since the bag is a long rectangle, I tend to shove all of my stuff in the bottom and end up rolling the top down to close the gap leaving a good amount of fabric being wasted. I would waste less of the fabric that gets rolled down if the mouth of the bag was much wider, or it stretched so I could put larger items in it. No matter how hard I wish the fabric still does not stretch, so I can’t really put my bigger synthetic sleeping bag in it unless I compress it just right and then spend about ten minutes wrestling with both dry bag and sleeping bag. I did fit my big bag in only once. I was also able to fit my husband’s sleeping bag inside on that same day; which I now credit to both bags having been compressed by the Marines we were camping with into very small shapes that I am unable to duplicate. In a pinch, I have determined that the dry bag can be used to store water. The valve area showed no signs of leakage, nor did the seams leak when I filled the bag about 1/3 full of water. There was also no ‘sweating’ of the water out of the filled bag like I have with my hydration bags. The water was also easy to pump out of the bag. I used the valve to direct the stream and compressed the bag accordion-style pushing more water out. This bag has proven to be pretty durable thus far as it has suffered through indignities such as: being shoved and yanked into and out of my pack, hung on a tree, sitting on the chilly damp ground overnight, being dragged through branches and brush, and being unceremoniously dumped into cold water and dragged by whitewater over rocks. The seams are still solid, and neither the valve nor the roll-top closure have warped or jammed up even after being in close contact with sand and river silt. I never seem to have enough to fill the bag entirely so I end up rolling the top down more than the three minimum folds directed, so the repeated deflation and compression of the bag has caused creases in the fabric. The creases in the bag don’t seem to hinder its dry-keeping abilities, but I am able to iron out most of the creases by just laying the bag flat for a while. I hung the bag in a tree outside the tent one night in North Carolina, but it neither rained nor was pulled off the tree and mauled by a bear so I can’t really say how durable the bag was that particular night. The bag has not retained any smells from its contact with water of varying degrees of urban pollution, and I have not stored food or other items that may have scent in the bag.
Likes: 1. Very useful as a compression sack.
Dislikes: 1. The material does not stretch or give at all.
Reviews > Stuff Sacks > Dry Bags > Pacific Outdoor Equip Pneumo LTW Dry Bag > Heather Oakes Palmer > Field Report | |||
