Hey yall,

I am taking another trip up the California coast with the wife when I get back from this deployment end of June. I was wondering if anyone uses Vacuum Sealed Bags or "Space Saver" bag to pack their rain suits or any other gear?
I am thinking I can vacuum shrink our rain suits and put one in each saddlebag while still using our soft HD saddlebag liners without taking up valuable space. I know that in late June/ early July, it does not usually rain between Phoenix and So Cal but, better to have and not need... What do you guys think?

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those work best for items with alot of "loft"; fleeces, your snuggie, down comforters, pillows and like that.

anything that is kinda dense without air spaces to deflate will not benefit....but space bags can help keep stuff dry...so do trash bags.

tip: ride hwy 1 from North to South, so that you are on the beach side, rather than looking across lanes of traffic as you would headed North.
Most of the pull outs are on the West side too.

mike

 

I've used them pn my bike last year nice thing about them nothing gets wet
go to Harbor Freight and pick them up only about 5 bucks or so can't beat it.

 

We have been using the large one gallon zip lock freezer bags for quite some time. They work great, are cheap and can be picked up just about anywhere.

Just put you stuff in, press the air out, zip closed and there ya go.

 

As with any style of packing they work until they don't. Wife and I tried them, could not get the same amount of clothes into the TP as did simply rolling the clothing and standing on end. We tried these layered then edged like file folders and finally returned to rolling and packing in water resistant baggage inside the TP as we had in the past. Was not a issue then not one now, we get drowned in a driving rain we stop at a hotel with a laundry and dry as we need to.

Gets real tough to vacuum out the air in the bags when you don't have access to a vacuum and rolling it out is not as neat or effective.

 

That's a good point. My thought was to only use the vacuum bags for the rain gear and like ddm502001 mentioned, I would place them like a file folder next to each liner in the saddlebags. The rest of our gear will get rolled and stowed in each saddlebag liner( 1 side hers/1 side mine). We are also purchasing the large rolling luggage bag from the newer HD line of touring luggage. Should be plenty of room for a 1 week trip....Hopefully. LOL.

 

They work great! Get the ones that you don't need to use a vaccuum cleaner.

 

Never used them on a Bike Trip but did use them on deployments. I like to bring everything with me...

 

And you don't need a vacuum cleaner with you to re-use.

 

Best to just roll up the clothes and better if your wife brings less!