Travel Bags, Duffels, Mesh Bags for Scuba Diving, Swim, Outdoors

Bags for Dive Gear

• Why have specific gear bags?:
  • Traveling with your dive gear can be a challenging task, fortunately there are some really good bags to carry your dive gear. A proper scuba gear bag must be durable, have plenty of space and have a decent set of wheels, straps or both. If it is not easy to carry or wheel, it can make traveling difficult when trying to get from the terminal to the gate to the parking lot to the hotel or to the boat.
• Materials:
  • Nylon Mesh
    • Found on Stahlsac Panama and Bonaire Mesh Bag
  • Butyl Rubber Coated Mesh
    • method used to strengthen nylon mesh
  • Codura Denier Nylon, 1200 & 1600 Count
    • Higher the thread count, the tougher the material. These nylons fall in the ballistic class of denier nylon, they're tough and will last years like Stahlac Catalina Cargo or Cozumel Cruiser bags.
  • Butyl Rubber Coatings - use to reinforce high wear areas like the bottoms and sides of bags
• Types:
  • Mesh Bags
    • Mesh bags like Stahlsac's Panama and Pinnacle Mesh Scuba Gear Bag are fairly necessary to carry your gear to the boat or beach, because they let the water drain and lets the gear breathe, helping prevent the smell, which can only be described as a ‘funk’, which can appear if the gear is placed wet into a bag without ventilation.
    • Getting on a boat requires both hands, and, if you plan on lots of boat diving, consider a backpack style mesh bag because it leaves your hands free. The Stahlsac Cortez Convertible Duffel bags are great for beach and lake diving, or when carrying your gear far isn’t a problem. They also offer a large zippered opening, which on a boat this is an opportunity for gear to spill out. Some mesh bags offer durable rubberized bottoms, which help prevent tearing and even dry pouches in them to keep your personal stuff dry.
  • Cargo Style or Wheeled Duffels
    • Largest class of travel bags, these will pack the most and suited for air, plane or bus travel. Many manufacturers make them, most have wheels, a collapsible handle for pulling, fin pockets, interior dividers, backpack straps (preferably padded) and several handles to grab it and handle it by.
    • Bags like Stahlsac's Galapagos are among the largest and toughest bags in this category
• Choosing Your Bag:
  • Decide what type of diving you are doing, divers always need at least a mesh bag, if you are joint to travel by car or plane, consider a large cargo style. Look for one that is tough, has a variety of ways to carry it. Not all airports are wheel friendly, so plan on one that has backpack straps built in.
  • No Logos - Look for one that has no logo on it or screams "Scuba Gear Inside! Steal me!" The more ordinary the bag the better. The Stahlsac Galapagos bag is huge and has many pockets and fin pockets, but its great feature is that it has only one outside zipper. All other zippers are accessed from the inside, so there's only one zipper to lock and much less for the bag handlers to snag.
  • When choosing a bag decide on how much gear you typically carry, and make sure that your Aeris Coral BCD and fins fit. Aeris Scuba Diving Fins are typically the longest of your gear, and the Mares Kaila BCD, especially those with a back pad, can be a bulky item.