Keeping your personal and group gear dry on a white water rafting trip takes a little careful attention. Here's an overview of the containers used and some ideas for keeping your gear dry and organized.
Types of Dry Bags and Dry Boxes
Having your clothing or sleeping bag get wet is a real bummer. And it doesn't take flipping the raft to make it happen. If your supposedly waterproof bag happens to be packed near the bottom of the raft, it can spend much of the day partially submerged, or at least come in enough contact with water to allow the closure to leak.
Your gear is usually stored in vinyl duffle bags somewhat wishfully called 'dry bags'. How dry the contents stay is a function of the quality of the bag and your skill at creating a water-tight closure. The pictures to the right will give you an idea of the diversity of 'dry bags' on the market. As you move down the list, the quality and the ability to prevent leakage increases. So shop carefully.
Dry bags come in two styles: end-loading and side-loading. End loading dry bags are closed by rolling the mouth of the vinyl fabric over on itself and then tightly down onto the bag contents and then clipping the ends of the roll together or to clips mounted on the sides of the bag. The effectiveness of this closure is dependent on the design of the mouth of the bag (see photos at right), your care in not over-stuffing the bag, keeping soft contents near the mouth, and your ability to make a tight roll.
Side-loading bags use zippers. The zippers are a point of weakness as they can jam or pop open. Side-loading dry bags are generally more convenient and desirable because you can more easily reach all of the contents of the bag. But you must be careful with, and take care of, the zippers. Dry bag zippers can be lubricated with paraffin or one of several specialized dry lubricant products made especially for dry bag and dry suit zippers. Do not use a greasy or sticky substance like lip balm or Vaseline to lubricate dry bag zippers because the zipper will thereafter attract sand and grit and make matters worse.
Organization within the dry bag can be achieved by packing smaller items in plastic zip-lock bags or other lightweight containers or bags. If these bags within the bag are transparent, it's all the better for finding things. And they really help to keep the contents from being blended into a single mass of clothing during a trip. Such organization also helps to keep dirty clothes separated from clean clothes, as all must go back into a bag to prevent them from becoming soaked.
Hard Containers
A tradition in white water rafting is to use metal military surplus boxes to contain and protect personal gear such as cameras, glasses, wallets, cell phones etc. In the interests of enlightening you about these boxes, below is a bit of an overview on each. But recently, many sizes of plastic boxes and pouches have started to appear, which is great to see, especially for smaller items like wallets and cell phones. But military surplus containers are still the most durable and usually reliably water tight boxes out there.
Ammo Cans
Military ammunition containers come in several sizes and make truly water proof and rugged containers for small personal items. Many an ammo can has served as a 'river purse' for watches, wallets, cell phones, and other delicate items.
Rocket Boxes
In the rafting community, the term 'Rocket Box' refers to steel military boxes designed to contain 20mm shells which are not actually rockets. But the name is catchy. These boxes are used for kitchen gear and major pieces of equipment such as toilets, toilet seats, camp equipment, lanterns, water filtration systems, campfire ashes, food, and virtually any piece of gear on a river trip. Rocket boxes are pretty bomber, but they are heavy.
Ammo Cans and Rocket boxes are generally very reliable at keeping their contents dry. Of course, they must be in good shape, without warped lids. So pay close attention to the fit of the lid and the rubber seal beneath.
Dry Boxes
The large metal (usually aluminum) boxes that hang in the raft frame are referred to as 'dry boxes'. The name is more of a desire than a reality. I'd call most dry boxes water resistant rather than water proof. In a flip, the raft will be subjected to periods in which it is upside down in very rough water, and will incur lots of jostling around in which all the contents of the box are banging around upside down with their weight resting on the inside of the lid. In these situations lots of forces come into play to aid the water in finding its way into the box. So I won't trust a valuable camera to a 'dry box'. Kitchen gear can dry out pretty readily. Likewise, lots of food items packed for the river will be in plastic bags or plastic containers within a dry box and may be in decent shape after a flip. We make sure to separate our paper products so that some are in good dry bags and not leave all our toilet paper in a container of dubious waterproof-ness.
Rig For a Flip
On the boat, everything must be securely attached to the raft frame, and not just attached, lashed down so that it will not move. An upside down raft with lots of gear hanging loosely from it is an incredible risk of entanglement for passengers ejected and swimming nearby.
Everything Has a Place
One of the hard parts of renting a raft and the necessary gear is that it is all unfamiliar to you. You stow it as best you can, but nothing quite fits the way it should for safety and convenient access. Over the years, white water boaters develop certain ways to pack their gear and load their boats that not only keeps everything secure, but makes it easy to repeat day in and day out as you make camp and break camp, time after time.
