Packing gear under new airline regs

[Loves_Dogs]

Two words and a suggestion..... SPACE BAGS! You can get the travel kind at stores like Target or even on line. You place your clothes in them, zip the top and roll the bag while air escapes from one-way valves on the bottom. It doesn't solve weight issues but will compress (and keep your clothes from wrinkling) down to practically nothing saving goobs on space. Also they're waterproof so they protect your clothes in your bag should the bag be left out in the rain on the tarmac during loading (had that happen more than once) and you can pack those damp wet suits and swimming clothes in them for the trip back keeping your regular clothes from getting wet (though remove promptly to dry them when you get home). Also with the savings in space, pack a foldable gym bag for those purchases going home (or use it for dirty clothes and pack the purchases in your original bag). I've seen too many overpacked suitcases burst open in baggage claim.

 

Randall

 

I love those things but they are DANGEROUS...using those space bags we compacted our clothes down so small that we were able to fit way too much in one bag. Had clothes in one bag, dive gear in another and the clothes bag was way overweight. We had to rearrange the bags and spread the clothes out.

[CSTX Mom]

Two words and a suggestion..... SPACE BAGS! ... and you can pack those damp wet suits

 

You should not use them for neoprene wetsuits, they should never be compressed like that. Neoprene keeps you warm by trapping air within the "fabric". If it becomes compressed too often it stays that way, decreasing it's effectiveness significantly.

[scubaran]

You should not use them for neoprene wetsuits, they should never be compressed like that. Neoprene keeps you warm by trapping air within the "fabric". If it becomes compressed too often it stays that way, decreasing it's effectiveness significantly.

 

Hi,

 

I think that's a depends.... I have a 3mm Henderson hyperstretch and it is perfectly fine in a space bag (I have to admit I don't scrunch it all the way down but leave some air in it). The material's a mix of neoprene and composite materials. Besides, travel space bags don't create a vacuum sucking the internal bubbles down in the neoprene (no vacuum attachment), they just remove a lot of excess air around the clothes.

 

r

[SwimnwFishes]

Several years ago we went to Mexico and I wanted to dive...so I dutifully and carefully packed my dive gear in my dive bag, including my regulator, BC, dive skins...you get my drift...EVERYTHING went in the bag.

 

So...I get on the cruise, couple days before the dive and I haul the gear out...and I take the regulator out of the bag...and the cover over the mouthpiece falls off in my hand. Try as I might, I cannot get that thing back on for love nor money. It seemed simple enough, but I wasn't able to do it.

 

No problem though because I changed my mind about diving and I didn't think any more about it.

 

I get back to VA and I take the regulator to my dive guy...and he looks at it...and says...."Cathy....somebody took this apart." WHAT!!!! :eek: And, he proceeds to unscrew everything and put it all back together, after I insisted it be CAREFULLY examined to make sure everything was alright.

 

There was no TSA note in the bag. Nothing. But SOMEONE opened my dive gear and TOOK my regulator apart. I don't know if I'm more concerned that they took it apart and didn't put it back together or if I'm more concerned that if the HAD put it back together it wouldn't have worked properly.

 

And, yes....I had to pay for the "repair" and no, TSA did NOT reimburse me.

 

Lesson learned...my regulator goes with me ON the plane now and if I could figure out how to turn my BC into something that looks like a backpack, I would bring that too. I don't trust TSA with ANYTHING that I might have to rely on to live.