Inexpensive Dry Bags
Leonard_Jansen
Charter Member
Every time I go to a race, I lose one of my dry bags. I have no idea how they get lost or where they go and the only rational explanation is that there is a black hole that sucks them up and transports them to a parallel universe. This means that I am out a dry bag and that somewhere there is a universe that is slowly filling up with dry bags marked "Jansen." That sounds like the start of a possible plot line for the next "Star Trek" movie.
My last, and favorite, dry bag disappeared after 8 Bridges this year. Dry bags aren't cheap, especially when they get one use and then go off to the other universe. So I decided to see if I could make them much more cheaply than buying them. The result was the $2.50 dry bag.
Disclaimer: I can build nearly anything, but I am not artsy-craftsy, so even though my efforts are functional, they aren't polished.
Jo-Ann Fabrics (I think this is a national chain) sells sheet vinyl for between $3 - $6 per yard, depending on the thickness. It is 54 inches wide. (Note: To those of you living in civilized countries that use the metric system: Sorry, we're savages.) You can get 4 small dry bags from 1 yard of vinyl.
How to do it:
1) Take a yard of 8 gage vinyl and cut 4, 13" wide pieces that are the full yard long.
2) Fold each one in half so you get an 18" inch long by 13" wide double layer of vinyl.
3) Cut things as needed to get everything square.
4) Put a double layer of wax paper between the two layers of vinyl at the side that will be the mouth of the bag - i.e. the side that is farthest away from the fold in the vinyl. The wax paper prevents accidently gluing the mouth either partially, or fully, shut.
5) Do this in a very well ventilated area... like outside. Working quickly, one side at a time, run a continuous 1/4" line of plumber's PVC cement up the side of the bag. Press the two layers together and put something weighted over the ENTIRE seam you are gluing together. You may want to have a layer of wax paper between the seam area and the weight to prevent getting cement on the weight. Do the other side.
6) Let dry for 24 hours.
7) Turn the bag inside out so the rough part of the seam is on the inside. This isn't strictly necessary, but it makes the bag look nicer.
8) Cut a 3/4" - 1" strip from the left over vinyl that is about 3-4" wider than each bag.
9) Put a double layer of wax paper at the mouth of the bag between the two layers of vinyl.
10) Put plumbers PVC cement on one side of the strip (get the entire width) and then place it at the mouth of the bag so that the extra vinyl hangs evenly over each side. Don't put cement on the vinyl that hangs over the side, BTW. Weight the entire area with cement contacting the vinyl bag as before.
11) Let dry for 24 hours.
12) Put a brass grommet on each side of the bag in the vinyl strip that over-hangs the bag.
13) Use a small aluminum carabiner to secure the both sides of the bag at the grommets when the bag is in use.
Use vinyl ONLY. "Vinyl" is shorthand for PVC (polyvinyl chloride). The cement won't reliqbly work on other substances.
The plumber's PVC cement is not really a glue. It actually dissolves some of the vinyl and fuses both sides together when dry. The resulting seam is stronger than the vinyl.
You MUST put a weight over a cemented seam because the cement can make the vinyl curl up.
Mosy glues and solvents won't affect wax paper. However, be sure to buy good quality wax paper. (i.e. lots of wax on the paper)
Cost (USD) for each bag:
Vinyl - $1.50
Carabiner - $0.50
Cement/Wax Paper/etc: $0.50
Getting totally high from breathing cement fumes - Priceless.
-LBJ
“Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.” - Oscar Wilde
Comments
@Niek -
I'll try. Unfortunately, I have zero artistic ability. If nothing else, it should be amusing.
-LBJ
“Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.” - Oscar Wilde
I love you @Leonard_Jansen . There's no way I would have the patience to do this but I thank you for still doing things by hand and sharing. Maybe I will try. There is a joanne's where I live.
Leonard, are you losing the stuff inside the bags as well? Your clothes?
OK, for better or for much worse, here is a link where you can see what passes for drawings and, perhaps worse, my handwriting. I consider these as being an accurate reflection of the inside of my brain. If it makes no sense or you can't read them, let me know and I'll try again. It's a document in PDF format.
https://1drv.ms/b/s!As6rwRLcU74aa6jQAmbu9y9Wsuo
-LBJ
“Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.” - Oscar Wilde
Not clothing- I keep that in my diver's bag. Usually a spare pair of goggles, a few gel packets, some vaseline and a few over-the-counter meds for my stomach.
Although that IS an interesting thought... Maybe next time, I should buy some women's skimpy lingerie and put it in the bag also. Whoever gets the bag marked "Leonard Jansen" with a skimpy women's bustier or the like will at least have something to think about.
-LBJ
“Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.” - Oscar Wilde
I did wonder if the thief was really trying to steal the dry bag or the unmentionables within
I wonder if your dry bag ends up in the place that our spare socks do?
I guess an even cheaper method is to use a large supermarket bag for life. If you lose it ask for a new one as it didn't last!!
Good point. You can add another layer or two of vinyl over the 3/4"-1" strip or...
On the very first one I made as a test, I remembered that about 15 years ago, I put up a cheap Venetian blind in a storage room and that the packaging said that the slats of the Venetian blind were made of vinyl. A quick trip to the storage room where the blind was discovered to have "miraculously broken" and I had all the stiff vinyl I could want. (It also responds to the cement, so attaching it is easy.) I did use that on the test and it worked OK, but was a bit harder to work with. The slats were curved and that made it a pain, but I probably should have tried it again on subsequent attempts as I got better at it.
A couple other things:
If you don't want to work with plumber's PVC cement (the best bang for the buck), LockTite sells a vinyl cement that works well.
You can also use the cement that they sell in the patch kits for vinyl pool liners. (relatively expensive)
There is a product called "HH-66" that will do the job superbly, but is hard to find.
Don't use plumber's CPVC cement - it's not as good as PVC cement.
Universal PVC/CPVC cement works well, too.
I am not sure of the organic solvent in the cement, but do a "worst case" scenario and assume it is ether which is EXTREMELY flammable. Therefore, do this in a very well ventilated area and be sure that there are no flames or sparks anywhere near-by. Ether can ignite at very low dilutions and as it is heavier that air, it will travel along a work bench top and if it ignites, the whole desk will be flames. I was in an ether fire as an undergraduate and it is scary stuff.
Transparent vinyl makes nice bags that allows you to see the contents of the bag, but you can get colored vinyl.
I think I am going to get some colored vinyl and use that to make letters to glue my initials on the bags.
I think 4 gauge vinyl is too thin and 12 gauge vinyl MAY be too thick (I tried both). But play with it.
My "recipe" for making dry bags isn't definitive, so if you are artsy-fartsy, please experiment and make it better/easier to do.
-LBJ
“Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.” - Oscar Wilde