Diving bag vs. suitcase

[namabiru]

You know, I have to ask the grand question. As I don't really have a LDS near me, I can't find out for myself.

Truthfully, what is the difference between a wheeled dive gear suitcase and a regular ol' Blue Light Special you get down to the KMart, or to Wally World? Obviously an el cheapo suitcase doesn't last long under any circumstances when going via air, whether it's carrying Grandma's polyester pants or your BCD. But what if you got yourself a half decent suitcase to haul your dive gear in? It wouldn't advertise "Dive Gear" from the lack of the Akona brand, or Dive Rite, or whoever. Plus suitcases are similarly-dimensioned.

Could someone enlighten me, please? I'm not trying to be a piker by refusing to transport my dive gear properly, but wouldn't a regular suitcase work just as well for the airplane?

[thesmoothdome]

I use rolling duffle bags for my dive gear and my dive bag for my clothes. Just a habit I got into when I first started diving. There's nothing wrong with transporting your gear in regular suitcases. The only thing that's important is space. If you're on a liveaboard, there's very little storage space in your room and bags that store flat are nice to have. One other consideration is weight. With weight restrictions of 50 lbs, you really want to leave the heavy, hard suitcases at home.

I use my dive bag primarily for diving around home, either off the beach or by comercial dive boat, where again, space is at a premium.

[thor]

The only problem is that regular luggage is not always built to get wet. If you are just using it to transport dry gear- no problem. Better bags have stainless zippers, drainage holes, etc.

[namabiru]

Yeah, I kind of wondered if the drainage factor plus the weight is what sets dive bags apart from regular old suitcases. I was at Wally World the other day, and I found a suitcase which is supposed to be "lightweight". And, sure enough, when I lifted it vs. a regular suitcase, there was a world of difference.

I was looking at a no-name brand rolling duffle bag at Wally World, and it was $29 or something. It had two compartments you could zip open separately, and I thought one could be for fins, then your BCD and stuff in the other side.

One immediate problem I could see, though, was the width. I'm diving a Zeagle Ranger, which people probably know isn't exactly the smallest traveling BCD out there on the market. I'm almost stuck with using a suitcase-style bag in that case.. I do hear you on the liveaboard and no room situation. I do have a mesh gear bag I can, and have, used to go to the boat. But I'm just leary about checking a mesh bag into the airlines. You should just see how they've mutilated my nice rolling luggage, so I can just imagine how a mesh bag would get treated.

There's so many cool things to buy for diving. I can't wait until I start my job. Or until the dive gear fairy visits my house and leaves presents next to my shoes while I'm sleeping at night

[Harshal]

Normally I use the Pelican, but lately I think I am going away from Pelican with all the weight restrictions, I would prefer to go with a duffle bag, so my thought would be you should be ok with suitcase, there is no rule for diving bag. Only thing that is little scary is if in case you have some water / moisture left in your gear when you pack to leave back for home.

[Damselfish]

Certainly nothing wrong with using regular luggage instead of "dive" brands. Whatever fits your stuff, meets size/weight restrictions, and is easy to haul around. Though I've found that hard suitcases don't work out as well as wheeled duffles for dive travel. Partly it's the weight issue, partly soft bags are easier to stash on a liveaboard, and partly something with some give actually seems to hold up better. When we stuffed the hard suitcases we used to have (not even cheap ones) with heavy and sometimes still damp gear, they got yucky and beat (broken wheels, cracked corners.) That was when you could do 70# which didn't help, of course.

We have these and love them - http://www.eaglecreek.com/bags_lugga...V-Trunk-20127/). Before that we had some fairly inexpensive but decent wheeled duffles that worked ok. They had a hard bottom but only a soft handle rather than a pull out rigid handle, and that was a pain.

Don't feel you have to pack all your dive gear in one bag and your clothes in another. We distribute things where they make sense, using clothing for padding. Also, some people will try to get one bag to fit 2 sets of gear for travel, which I don't think is the way to go.

Mesh bags are for local use or the boat - not to check on a plane. If you travel it's nice to have one you can fold up and pack along with everything else. You can get a pretty durable mesh bag with backpack straps that packs small enough and is very useful in most warm-water places.

[namabiru]

That's true--about the mesh bag. I read, too, that Blackbeard's will allow you to leave stuff with them while you go on the boat. So perhaps one option is to have your mesh bag with you and ask them to hold your suitcase.

Or I just had a thought--what if you packed your gear into plastic, then put it in the suitcase? I know you won't get as much air, and the bags will possibly reek to high heaven when you open them, but you could, in theory, re-rinse or let air. With a wetsuit, you can always use wetsuit shampoo and clean. A BCD can also be cleaned with that BCD cleaner stuff.

[thesmoothdome]

Most of the time you're not going to be diving during the last day of the vacation, or you're going to making early morning dives the before your flight. In most instances, if you're traveling to warm water destinations, your gear will have enough time to dry before you have to pack it away. I love eagle creek stuff, but it's pretty pricey. I opted for a 3 pack of rolling duffles that I found on overstock.com for $70.00. One was a carry on for regs, wetsuit, mask, and a change of clothes and the other 2 stored the BCs and fin and assorted other gear.

[deepdiver47]

[quote=Damselfish;19256] Though I've found that hard suitcases don't work out as well as wheeled duffles for dive travel. Partly it's the weight issue, partly soft bags are easier to stash on a liveaboard, and partly something with some give actually seems to hold up better.

Don't feel you have to pack all your dive gear in one bag and your clothes in another. We distribute things where they make sense, using clothing for padding. Also, some people will try to get one bag to fit 2 sets of gear for travel, which I don't think is the way to go.

Damselfish you hit the nail on the head on 2 points. Hard luggage doesn't work as good as soft. And don't put all of your dive gear in one bag. I travel overseas and here is how I do it:

1) Soft duffel: I use this bag: http://www.amazon.com/Travelpro-Walk.../dp/B000OTNJR8
Basically a 60 cu ft wheeled soft duffel. That I put the following:

1) top section of bag: boots, 2 masks (in their cases), 1 wetsuits (1 mm and 3 mm)
2) middle section: Zeagle ranger BCD: Enclosed in a heacy duty plastic bag that is rolled with 2 bugie type fasteners. 1 set of fins will straddle this on the sides
3) lower: a small wet bad with misc gear, small towels, batteries, first aid kit etc
4) On top of all this is summer clothes (tshits,shorts flipflops and a hat)

On my 22" carry on I have the following:
1) A regulator bag with my Zeagle 50D reg, 2 wrist computers, my SS1, 2 dive lights.
2) My cameras are packed with batteries
3) clothes

This bag drys weighs in at 55-57 lbs

I keep my reg and comps with me as they are $$$$. It also minimizes my duffel bag.

That's how I do it.

[namabiru]

That's a nice bag. So basically you compress your BCD, in a way, to pack it. Good idea--I could do the same. I'm glad you posted for me, as we're diving the same BCD.

I picked up a 30" rolling duffle at Wally World, and it has virtually the same dimensions as what deepdiver is using, with two compartments. Someone from SB was using it too, and he said it's worked quite well.
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=5222987

You can put fins and wetsuit, plus rash guard stuff in the bottom, then in the main compartment put your BCD and small items. I did a weight trial run with my BCD, fins, wetsuit, and fin straps in the bag, and I was at 25#. I *will* say that seems a bit heavy, though. I'm just trying to be careful, as I'm limited to 50#. I do, however, think I can check two bags, so I could just do that as well. It's not like I'm going on a 3-year journey, though, and require a whole fricking heap of things. It's mostly my dive gear, and clothing. Which doesn't need to be formal at all. T-shirts and shorts are light.

Or, if I *am* heavy on my baggage, screw them. I'll *wear* my dive gear onto the plane.

As I'm on Continental all the way on my trip, and CO is pretty good, I don't think my stuff will go too far afield. Even so, I'm arriving a day and a half beforehand in case this *does* happen.

I'll use a regular carry-on for my reg/computer and other heavy items. Then when I get on the boat at Blackbeard's, I'll just leave my carry-on at the dock since it doesn't compress and have a duffel bag to carry stuff onto the boat.

Cheap bags are good. What's the point of having nice things, when the baggage handlers ruin them anyway? My nice suitcases now look like someone from the Beverly Hillbillies is traveling, what with the grease stains and the handle broken on one.