Paddling tips, tricks, news and gear reviews from an Unsponsored point of view

Watershed Futa Stowfloat – First Look

You will be seeing quite a few Watershed Drybags on Unsponsored over the next couple of weeks. We’ve managed to get most of the range in for review. It’s cost a fair bit but we are very interested in how they perform.

Watershed Futa Stowfloat - First Look

First up is the Watershed Futa Stowfloat. This is a drybag/airbag combo designed to store gear and provide flotation in the back of a kayak.

Now all of the Watershed gear that I have ordered in is black. That is a personal preference. The Watershed Futa Stowfloat is available in Black, Blue, Coyote (Brown) and Orange.

You are looking at around £100 (Sterling) for this single bag. So what do you get? Here is what Watershed say:

Stowage and flotation – the name says it all. Float bags provide kayakers with ease of rescue if they swim, and ours give paddlers the added benefit of a place to keep dry gear. The Futa will fit in a wide range of boats, and comes with a long inflate/deflate tube so buoyancy can be adjusted easily.

The one thing that stands out with the bag when you check it out is the material is heavy duty and really feels robust. It has ripstop pattern to it and looks incredibly well put together with welded seams and barrack stitching.

Since you will be putting gear into the bag that must stay dry this is reassuring. At this point it is worth mentioning that Watershed bags are designed to be waterproof even when they are submerged. This is achieved through the interlocking rubber strips (ZipDry) at the top of the bag. They provide a very neat and relatively low profile seal.

Volume is around 13.3 litres which is plenty for a range of gear. Size wise is 91 x 47cm (tapers to 16cm). A number of straps on the bag allow you to compress the bag if required. A built in handle has also been integrated into the system allowing the bag to be easily carried when loaded up.

The tube that is used to blow up the bag is fairly substantial!

So initial impressions are good. We’ve got a few trips lined up over the next month or two so we will see how the Futa performs.

3 Comments

  1. Ben

    My Peak airbag failed where the inflation tube connected to the bag. It would be good to see a photo of that point in the review.

    • Unsponsored

      I’ve updated the post with an additional image.

  2. Unsponsored

    2 weeks inflated and one week under water. Still dry as a bone inside!

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