SealLine Boundary Dry Pack

I bought this to take on a hike through the Zion Subway and Narrows and keep my camera safe. I haven't actually tried this out, but the material feels like it can take a beating.
I decided to go with http://www.backcountry.com/outdoor-research-drycomp-ridge-sack so that I can strap my tripod to the back and keep water easily accessible.

I bought this bag in the 115L size with the intention of stuffing my sleeping bag, sleeping pad, and pillow inside its heavy-duty yellow waterproof material. Turns out, in that size, there was enough room for my girlfriend's stuff too! As an avid rafter, I love gear that acts tough and can stuff right into the crevices on a gear boat. This bag more than met my needs; I can't wait to go on another overnight raft trip just so I can burp this bag one more time! Woot!

Just bought a 115L after using a friends to shuttle loads to the base of a wall. I was impressed with the durability and pleased with the ease of loading due to the wide mouth. We were shuttling loads of approximately 75lbs. With loads that heavy the pack isn't going to be comfortable for extended periods but is plenty tough to handle it. They are also a great option for gear caches where you need to seal out the elements (ie, Patagonia and the greater ranges).

Bought this pack for stowing my climbing gear for bouldering on some islands. Required some swims between the rocks. I only bought the 30L as we at most would sleep the night on the sand and needed little. The bag never leaked, I've used it for this purpose probably 2 dozen times or more now, always being dragged behind me while I swim. Or used as a buoy for a break on a long swim.

My only thought is that the material appears like it may wear thin and eventually develop holes on the corners of the folds. Grant it there aren't any holes and this isn't a proven fact. The material there is just the only place that seems to be wearing faster.

EDIT--It's been over a year since I've had this bag, my worries of the material wearing at the folds haven't been justified. With 40-50 swims the bag still keeps everything bone dry and has taken some minor abuse of being dragged/dropped on rocks without any damage.

The bags are now made of vinyl which may be greener then PVC, but the durability drops of dramatically. The last SealLine I owned lasted about 7 years of river guiding, then it finally began to wear out. I then bought the new vinyl made one to replace it, which I admit appears very durable upon visual inspection. It lasted half a season and had 6 different holes in it, which is not great when your trying to keep your stuff DRY. I hate to say it but go with another brand that uses PVC instead of vinyl, like NRS or Jacks plastic.

I purchased one of these 70 L packs to use on an extended weekend trip in the BWCA in mid-October. It worked great! We were constantly bombarded by rain, snow, sleet and wind and this bag stayed toasty dry inside, which is good news for my down sleeping bag. Using a chunk of foam padding as a back panel helps greatly, and will hold all of your gear. The strap system is quite comfortable even while portaging a 70 lb royalex canoe. Great buy!

This review might not be helpful to everyone. Our family bought a couple of these packs to store emergency kits in. We live in the very rainy Pacific Northwest and figured it would be wise to find some waterproof bags/packs we could use to store our 72-hour emergency kits. We have been very happy with them for this purpose. We also use them for transporting outdoor gear from in the back of our pickup truck to on the trail. We are not to rough on them, so we have not seen to much wear and tear.

I have to admit I was skeptical at first of the roll top closure system, but everything has stayed dry to this point. I am a believer.

This pack is a great material! Impenetrable to H20! As a waterproof stuff sack this bag is great! This bag is so waterproof I think the manufactures are having trouble finding glue that will connect firmly to the material. The shoulder straps of the backpack have come unglued from the pack and so the backpack feature of this pack has become useless. I took one hike 13 miles with 25 or so pounds worth of gear and the plastic piece that the glue is holding onto the pack is sliding out as to make the shoulder straps fall off. Some advise to the manufacture, build a hard frame pack and put one of these packs in it!!! Also reinforce the bottom of the pack with some of the urban backpack material. It is important when keeping things dry that it wont rip when setting the pack down on the ground next to a school desk or in the dirt with sharp sticks!

I bought the 115L sized bag, which will definitely hold all of your gear for a week long Boundary Waters trip, and then some. Nice to see the new model has the hip-belt: mine doesn't have this feature, but I sure wish it did! There is no padding against your back; to solve this you can pack your sleeping pad against that side, or stick a lightweight piece of foam on the inside before you start packing. Everything stayed dry the entire week, and it handled being set down in mud and on rocks/gravel nicely. If you plan on getting the largest bag and/or have lots of gear, I recommend putting "like" gear in smaller light-weight dry sacks first, so it's easier to find what you're looking for when you're digging through the big bag, especially in mosquito territory! The yellow color also made it easier to see the contents on the inside.

I picked up the 115L version prior to my recent Boundary Waters Trip and loved it. We had some gnarly portages that were a breeze due to my comfortable pack. Since there is no structure to the pack bag, I slipped a folded crazy creek chair to my a flat surface where my back hit the bag. This worked out great. The shoulder straps were surprisingly comfortable and the load lifters were a big help. The hip belt has no padding but this wasn't an issue because portages aren't generally really that long. The hip belt was helpful to reduce the bag's ability to slide side to side.

I found packing the 115L version to be kind of tricky for the first few times because it was so big and had no structure. Stacking and organizing took some trial and error, but by the end it was pretty easy. I highly recommend this pack. It can fit 2 people's gear for 3-4 days pretty easily assuming you've got the right gear (i.e. gear made for backpacking not car camping).

this is the one to get for an extended trip. lots of room, stays dry and carries well.

After only 7 days of use, there is already a hole worn (Read: no longer waterproof) in the bag from where one of the buckles touches against the body of the bag.
It seems like a lousy design and doubt it was ever tested in a real-world environment. There should be a flap to prevent contact between the hard buckle and soft bag.

I received my backpack today, it is awesome!!! There was a mix up with the address my order was shipped to, so I contacted Back Country and they had a new backpack out to me quick! They are a wonderful company with helpful and kind employees - I will definitely be shopping again!!

I was sick of using a trash bag inside my Duluth Packs during my trips up to the BWCA, so I figured I would get one of these to try them out.

The waterproofing of the pack worked perfect. All of my stuff stayed dry even with a downpour on the second day. Just like any pack without an internal/external frame, it takes a few times packing it to find the correct way to make it comfortable. I would recommend getting smaller stuff sacks to place things in so you know where everything is.

I got the 70L and was able to fit a 2p tent, 2 sleeping bags, clothes and all of our cooking gear/food into the bag. I'm glad I didn't get the 115L as that would've been a lot bigger than I was looking for.

The pack was exactly as described. I plan on taking it on a kayak river trip real soon. The only thing is bag dimensions are larger than they appear. Glad I didn’t go with the 115L. I got the 70L size. It is plenty enough bag for an extended stay for one or an overnight for two. I like that the straps are removable and then you have just a bag. Very well made and seals up very tight.

Waiting to use it, this piece of equipment looks like it can take a beating. I was sold on it when I saw it in a canoe while canoeing.

I bought two of these day for a recent river trip in Alaska (the 35L and the 70L) and they worked great. The 35L pack is good if you want to bring a pack out on a day adventure of rafting or boating. For extended trips the 70L and 115L are probably the way to go.

Having the back pack straps on these bags is a really nice touch, but I would never hike an extended distance with these unless the load was pretty minimal.

Side note, these bags took a beating by airport baggage handling. They survived intact but I don't know how many repeated trips like this they would be able to handle.

Overall, great product, kept my stuff dry and easy to haul. Highly recommend.

I own 2 of these bags now, and have given a couple away as gifts. We've used them on countless float trips and fishing/hunting trips. They always stay dry inside, and sling'em over your shoulder for a portage or hike to camp from the water. I also feel they are the best value comparatively for the size to the other bag options offered. Lastly they are super durable which can not be said for most dry bags period!

This pack is terrific! I absolutely love it. It is truly waterproof and performs as advertised. I use it mainly for commuting around the city. It holds all my stuff I need for the day and keeps it dry. I haven't used it for anything but that yet... but definitely plan on it this winter.

I used this on a trip to the BWCA and it worked better than expected it handled heavy loads really well. This pack carried most of the gear for two people and kept every thing dry during a couple of rains. It never got dunked so I can't speak for it'water proofing but based on the quality of the product I would assume it would work as described.

I have older 115L models of this bag without the hip strap for rafting trips. They work great, even on a flipped and pinned boat. Plenty of room for all of a person's personal gear for several days, and the shoulder straps make getting your gear from the boat to camp much easier. For the price I would recommend, and they've held up well over a few years of good use.

To all those who are wondering wheather this bag will work for canyoneering, your wait is over. I'm not a kayaker or rafter Im an ultralight backpacker. Been getting more and more into the multi day canyoneering trips. I was tired of drybagging all my gear then having to open each one to access something while on the trail. I wanted a totally waterproof bag that I could just throw everything in. This bag works perfect for that. I wasn't concerned about the durability of the bag as I know Seal Line has been around awhile and they make great stuff. My concern was how comfortable the harness was going to be. You cannot carry heavy loads with it because it really isnt designed for that (like having no padding on the waist belt). However, if you keep your loads on the lighter side you'll be fine.

I took this bag out for the first time (overnight trip) over the weekend on a 12 mile canyon with 23 required swims (most 50-100 yards long). With all the air trapped in the bag after closing, it acted as a floation device and made the swims very easy. Not one drop of water inside the bag, I even submerged it a couple times. There was ALOT of bushwacking going on when we weren't swimming and the bag held up great rubbing agains trees and bushes. Also ran aginst some sandstone a couple times while scrambling and no damage.

I realize I should be writing this review after several trips and "tests" but I do feel like this is a well built, 100% water proof bag with a comfortable harness system. If you're looking for a quality bag to keep your gear dry on canyoneering adventures, this one should be at the top of the list.

Went on a 5 day canoe trip to the boundary waters. Bag kept was easy to carry, adjust and comfortable with all of my stuff and kept me all dry. Really pleased with bag. It is not even too scratched up and I also used it as luggage on the plane ride there.

Used this bag on a 6 day boundary waters trip. Bag worked great - kept all my gear dry. I felt the lack of a padded hip belt was a drawback. I'm thinking about devising a way to add padding from an old frame pack, possibly. Also, I ordered too big a bag, which meant that I took too much stuff, a lot of which I didn't really need.

I have used the 115L for two years and is the only seal pack I will use. That being said, after many trips (rafting and canoe) the bag can wear thin and create micro holes to allow water in. After a 7 hour day of portaging in the rain the bag's contents were soaking wet and after inspection this was my only conclusion. So I bought a new bag because I was overdue.

I use these for loading light gear onto my roof rack. They are great. I also have the duffle, which has less straps, also a good choice.

this product was perfect for a week up in the boundry waters it was easy to portage and it kept my gear 100% dry

one straps is loosen. the sewing is not strong enough for first time using. other bothers me is no where to hold my water bottle. Do I need to return this dry back or fix by myself for next water hike?