Boat Building Forum

Find advice on all aspects of building your own kayak, canoe or any lightweight boats

Re: Other: Flotation and Dry Bag parts, ideas
By:John Abercrombie
Date: 2/22/2012, 1:48 pm
In Response To: Re: Other: Flotation and Dry Bag parts, ideas (Ken Blanton)

: How heavy did your float bags come out? I've made bags of clear
: vinyl ala Yost and they came out ridiculously heavy.

The float bags are pretty light- probably a pound or less. The heavy vinyl gear bags (combined gear and float bag) are heavier, but not a real problem.
When you start thinking about loading camping gear, food, and even drinking water into the boat, an extra pound for the dry bag doesn't seem like much.

:They didn't
: fit well either ... the stiffness of the seams caused the end
: seams of the bag to deform and crinkle inward several inches
: when inflated.

Yes, you need to take that into consideration when laying out your bag- they have to be longer than you would first think.

: I also used electrical fittings, vinyl
: reinforcements and tight fitting holes ... and the HH66 cement
: caused the vinyl to shrink outward and enlarge the hole ... and
: caused the vinyl to twist around the fitting when it was
: tightened. But ... they held air just fine ... they were just
: way too heavy and the fit coulda been a lot better.

: Ken Blanton

The vinyl I'm using has fiber reinforcement and is pretty tough, and non-wrinkling stuff.
Having several layers helped to stiffen things up as well.
It took some experimenting to figure out the optimum hole size.

It would be nice if the commercial fittings like you see on flotation bags and inflatable PFDs were readily available, though they aren't very rugged.
The commercial float bags I have came with big warnings not to pull on the hose; I'd have no problem doing that with mine.

Messages In This Thread

Other: Flotation and Dry Bag parts, ideas *PIC*
John Abercrombie -- 2/21/2012, 11:24 pm
Re: Other: Flotation and Dry Bag parts, ideas *PIC*
John Abercrombie -- 2/21/2012, 11:27 pm
Re: Other: Flotation and Dry Bag parts, ideas *PIC*
John Abercrombie -- 2/21/2012, 11:30 pm
Re: Other: Flotation and Dry Bag parts, ideas *PIC*
John Abercrombie -- 2/21/2012, 11:35 pm
Re: Other: Flotation and Dry Bag parts, ideas
Will N 2 Go -- 2/23/2012, 10:43 pm
Re: Other: Flotation and Dry Bag parts, ideas
Ken Blanton -- 2/22/2012, 7:51 am
Re: Other: Flotation and Dry Bag parts, ideas
John Abercrombie -- 2/22/2012, 1:48 pm
Re: Other: Flotation and Dry Bag parts, ideas
Ken Blanton -- 2/22/2012, 6:07 pm
Re: Other: Flotation and Dry Bag parts, ideas *PIC*
John Abercrombie -- 2/22/2012, 7:57 pm
Re: Other: Flotation and Dry Bag parts, ideas
John Abercrombie -- 2/22/2012, 8:02 pm
Re: Skin-on-Frame: Skinning methods *PIC*
James Adams -- 2/23/2012, 11:59 am
Re: Skin-on-Frame: Skinning methods
Ken Blanton -- 2/23/2012, 10:55 pm
Re: Skin-on-Frame: Skinning methods
James Adams -- 2/24/2012, 8:30 pm