Sea to Summit Big River Dry Bag

Initial review—the bag looks good; the 420D fabric feels robust and the rubberized bottom and handle fabric provides grip and a little more abrasion resistance. A little heavy for the modern backpacker.

This is a preliminary review; I bought this as an all rounder for my sleeping and shelter gear for all my outdoor activities that includes bush whacking, motorcycle camping, hiking, canoeing and kayaking and paddle boarding. So, it needed to be big enough for a spring/fall sleep system, waterproof, tough enough to be lashed to a pack, ruck, or motorcycle. As well as take driving rain and water.

I have bought and returned a whole lot of drybags this year. Most are 40-70D poly or silnylon, plastic, and they just won't do for me. This bag has a very stiff outer fabric with a rubber like coating on the bottom, grips, and lip.

The bag is 12.5x23 allegedly but I think with three rolls min you are 20-22 depending on where and how you measure. The width seems to be 12-12.5 inches but I couldn't get my 11" wide stuff sack with my bag in it in this. Either the rubber band along the top stopped it from sliding in or my compression bag budged a bit beyond the 12".

Still without the compression bag I was able to compress enough to get a cheap 0°F synthetic sleeping bag, a 7°F sleeping bag/liner, a 22"x"76" self-inflating rectangle sleeping pad, a small fleece blanket, with enough room on top for a large camping hammock and still just get 3 rolls in

The inner sides have a low friction coating so my bag and gear slide in and were easy to compress. However, there is a rubber band along the top that may prevent nearly the same sized items from easily sliding in and out. Personally, I like this rubber strip; other roll top bags didn't have this and I could feel the roll top sliding when using the bags near capacity. This rubber strip stops this from happening, helping to provide a good seal.

Having two tiedown straps on each side is huge for my use cases for I typically use smaller packs, or external frame rucks, and attach bedrolls to them over stuffing a large backpack full of gear. The tiedowns are rated for 220lbs of load but I can't see me putting that much force on them. The tiedowns are rubber backed providing anti-slip when using straps which I also like and being on each side means I can fully secure them to my bike or pack in multiple ways.

The buckles look ok, but the D rings might be a bit weak where they are plastic. If the plastic quality is good they should be fine.

My only real issue, and it might not be an issue, is that the bag seems to only be single stitched on the seams. Personally, I would prefer double and love to see triple stitching on seams. That said, it might be double stitched and the seam roll is hiding it. From the inside the seam is taped so I can't tell but there could be a double seam.

I submerged it in the bathtub just to see and with three rolls nothing got wet. It does say "non-submersible" but my take on that is it is more liability than usability. Me, I wouldn't seek to submerge any of my bags, waterproof or not, but as long as the roll top has min 3 rolls, there is enough air or material to keep pressure on the roll, and there are no other holes, then it should be good for any accidents and heavy rain.

It feels quality and well built so I will give it a thrashing and see where we are in the fall. Final note, some reviews have these as low as $35 I paid $91.14CAD. There are several options from 5L up to 65L and 40D, 70D, and up to 420D. This one is the 420D 35L; that said I think the cheaper ones are either smaller or made from the thinner material.

Background

Not much, I typically run on the cheap so construction bags and zip locks have been my drybags in the past. I am hoping this was worth the near $100CAD price tag.

Sea-to-Summit's 35 liter Big River Dry Bag is a voluminous stuff sack that is good for situations where keeping gear dry is top priority. While this reviewer is pleased with the product, he is left wondering why a bag marketed as “waterproof” cannot be submerged?

Note: While I did purchase this product new, I bought it with the CampSaver Gift Card I won from Trailspace in June 2014. Thank you, Trailspace! Now to the review...

Testing Parameters:

The 35L Big River Dry Bag was used for 8 days in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in September 2014. Temperatures ranged from mid-70s to mid-30s. Rain was a part of the trip for three full days.

_____________________________________________________________

Size Options:

The Big River line comes in a multitude of sizes ranging from 3L up to 65L. I spent a lot of time going back-and-fourth trying to decide what size I should purchase. In the end, I decided the 35L was more than I needed for just a sleeping bag, but better too much than too little. I ended up being completely satisfied with the choice.

Inside is my 15F synthetic sleeping bag, Stoic down jacket,
JRB UnderQuilt, and DangerBird hammock, with room
left for a change of clothes.

The 35L measures 13”x8”x28” and weighs in at 7.7oz (218 g). That is lighter than the 20L dry bag I own from another company.
_____________________________________________________________

Quality & Construction:

This is a well-made bag. The 420 denier nylon is tough and durable. During portages the six guys in our group grabbed whatever was handy and tossed it onto the rocky shore for others to start carrying. While we weren't abusive with gear, we weren't exactly babying this bag either. Seams are double stitched and sealed to be waterproof.

The Hypalon lashing loops are “resistant to chemicals, temperature extremes, and ultraviolet light” (Quote taken from Wikipedia.). They are surprisingly tough, and while I haven't gone out of my way to try and break one, I imagine it would take quite a bit of effort to do so.

_____________________________________________________________

Waterproof?

Well, yeah, sort of. Rain was a constant companion for nearly half our trip. At no time were the contents of my bag damp, even as I hung it in the rain with my extra clothes.

Notice the wet tarp to the left.

But I remain confused over Sea-to-Summit's instance that this bag is only waterproof if it's not submerged. It seems to me that once the top is rolled down, the bag should be sealed. (For an absolute waterproof bag, see my review on the Swaygo Push Pack.)
_____________________________________________________________

Backpacking

Strapped to my Vargo Ti Arc external frame pack, the 35L dry bag doubles my carrying capacity and serves to replace my need for a rain cover (See my Ti Arc review regarding its problem with rain covers.).

With the Big River in place, I essentially have a 69L bag, with the sleeping bag compartment being completely waterproof.

_____________________________________________________________

In Closing

Sea-to-Summit has a winning product here: Large volume, light weight, affordable price. I can definitely recommend the Big River Dry Bag to anyone in the market.

Quality bag and durable without too much weight.

Just back from an 11-day trip into the Tundra North of Brooks Range, Alaska, and with rain days of 9 out of 11 these bags worked great. I used two 35L bags for my clothes and food and even the tents were soaked inside and we used a pan to bail them out every day; my stuff stayed dry.

This size was perfect for the fly in a floatplane and even fit into the floatplane's floats.

Not all gear impresses me, but these did their job well. They maybe even saved my life as the temps were low 30s to low 40s for highs and wet. Dry clothes keep one alive as two flown out the day we flew in had come out because of hyperthermia and by the looks on their faces they were in shock.