High-Vis Yellow Enamel Paint Pen on Dark Dry Bags

[Guest]

I do love the discussion and ideas floated (pun) on CanoeTripping, and there’s no time like the present to experiment.

Questions and concerns were raised about the (not good) visibility of dark dry bags after a yard sale. I have some (compression) dry bags in stupid black, and a bunch of DIY heat sealable bags in dark blue. Not the best colors for recovering floaters.

I also have a few designated dry bags marked with enamel paint pen contents; Spares & Repairs and group 1[SUP]st[/SUP] Aid kits, and an off-season compression bag of spare clothes. The black clothes bag is already more contrast visible with just the yellow block lettering on the ends

P3240001 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

That black dry bag is only yellow lettered on the two compression ends, maybe not the best for high visibility recovery without a direct end-on view.

P3240004 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Yellow striping dark dry bags for contrast with an enamel paint pen was dead simple quick and easy, and even so I got better at it after the first stripe.

Empty dry bag, laid flat on the bench, alcohol cleaned swipe, let dry. I put a yardstick across the bag and ran a yellow paint pen across that guide. Moved the yardstick ¼” below that yellow stripe (¼” being the width of a paint pen tip) and widend the stripe with another paint line so it is closer to ½” thick.

P3240006 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Finished in minutes. I tried making a wider stripe at first, but filling in between the lines was a PITA compared to just zipping a paint pen across the surface twice.

Eh, not finished. I need to add a couple more stripes to the black clothes bag; the top stripe was (thoughtlessly) positioned and will be hidden under the compression end cap. That one needs a couple more easy-peezy yellow paint pen stripes at the bottom of the bag for a better high vis bee stinger.

P3250012 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The stripes on the blue canoe taper bag are better located, but the lines could (should) be more distinct yellow, my yellow paint pen was running dry even before I started on the black bag.

P3240007 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

P3250014 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

I use the yellow paint pen a lot, and the black one even more often. Not so much the red or blue.

P3250009 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Time for a new yellow paint pen, and easy yardsticked stripes on all of our dark bags.

Hell, maybe black paint pen stripes on our yellow and orange bags; I can see how having instantly identifiable “Them’s mine” striped dry bags could be a boon on group trips or trailer shuttles.

If I had better memory for pattern recognition it might even help me remember what was packed in which dry bags; one stripe, two stripe, yellow stripe, blue stripe.

 

[Bothwell Voyageur]

Love those pens but most of mine have dried up long before I get my monies worth.

3M reflective tape?

Try a cattle ear tag zip tied to the buckle to label each one.

 

[alsg]

Red black and yellow stripes —imagine the mnemonic possibilities! Red touches black belongs to Jack, red touches yellow is the other fellow’s?

Actually, I really like the paint pen idea, especially if you have gotten good adhesion/wear from the paint pens on this kind of gear in the past. Stripes for visibility, names, telephone numbers, contents labels, all seem like good ideas to me. As far as wider stripes go, is there a rattle can enamel paint that might be used for an easy to apply wider stripe masked off by a couple strips of painters tape?

 

[recped]

I guess I'm just lucky but I have plenty of dry bags/cases/containers I use when paddling, no two are identical. I do have a few that are the same colour but they are different sizes.

On some trips I do have 2 identical 30 litre barrels, I put some red tape around the handles, one piece of tape or two pieces of tape. I also use the same tape to identify which lid goes on which barrel (it can make a difference).

Some of these bags I've been using for 25 years and every bag gets used for the same contents on every trip so I know (when starting a trip) exactly what is in each one. When I trip with others I reply to "where is....?" questions with "it's in Green Monster" or "it's in little purple" or "look in the red bag" etc.

Of course after a few weeks things do get moved from their "proper" location, this calls for a layover day to reorganize (just one of my many ways to justify a layover).


For this type of marking I like to buy the Dollar Store "electrical" tape, (comes in a pack of 6 different colours for $1.50).


That tape is actually really good, I burned a hole in my sleeping bag (careless smoking), put a small piece of tape over the hole, that was 10 years ago, still holding strong even after the bag has been washed several times and slept in about 500 nights.

 

[Mason]

I've actually painted mine. I have a forest green dry portage pack that I ended up painting the interior with white Krylon Fusion (for plastics) paint so I could actually see into it. Plan on the paint taking a week or so to dry! I also painted a green dry rifle scabbard yellow using some Rustoleum paint for plastics. That was miserable, and took probably 3 weeks to dry (one week on the trip, getting yellow paint on everything). Both paints worked, but take an absurd amount of time to dry.

 

[goonstroke]

I've actually painted mine. I have a forest green dry portage pack that I ended up painting the interior with white Krylon Fusion (for plastics) paint so I could actually see into it. Plan on the paint taking a week or so to dry! ....

That's a brilliant idea. I have this black (not even off black) Granite Gear Trad #4 portage pack, and while I'm generally happy with it, it's so big and dark that I have a hard time seeing down to the bottom. If a porcupine crawled into it at night I'd be screwed.

 

[Guest]

Actually, I really like the paint pen idea, especially if you have gotten good adhesion/wear from the paint pens on this kind of gear in the past. Stripes for visibility, names, telephone numbers, contents labels, all seem like good ideas to me. As far as wider stripes go, is there a rattle can enamel paint that might be used for an easy to apply wider stripe masked off by a couple strips of painters tape?

The paint pen lettering has held up very well, and dries quickly. I have not tried spray paint; might be worth an experiment with an old bag if only for taping off wider stripes or using fluorescent orange or yellow. I don’t know if there is a solvent difference between paint pen enamel and spray paint, but taking a week (or three) to dry, ehhhhh.

Those three bags are the only ones contents labeled; they are the only ones that essentially stay packed with the same contents. I was thinking less about contents labeling than better visibility for yard sale recovery:

The other lesson learned was that I will never buy another dry bag/pack/tent bag that isn't a bright, fluorescent color. No more neutral colors or, worse still, black. That dark/neutral stuff is surprisingly hard to spot on the river post-ditch -- even in broad daylight!

Replacing my dry bags and dry box at this time is not an option, But doing something to make them more visible is.

Having some ID contact information on them as well as visibility stripes would be a good idea as well. Or in them; for increased longevity and ease I’m thinking simply contact info written inside the bag with a Sharpie. The golf club labels work well inside dry bag fold overs (better on hard side stuff, but even at 25 cents apiece a Sharpie inscription would be cheaper. (Last photo)

http://www.canoetripping.net/forums/...ddles-and-gear

Of course after a few weeks things do get moved from their "proper" location, this calls for a layover day to reorganize (just one of my many ways to justify a layover).

Even on solo trips what goes in which bag is often different, summer vs off-season gear loads vary, packing for a desert trip vs northwoods vs down south, open canoe vs decked boat. It is confusing enough that I make a crude reminder sketch of which bag goes where in the boat and what the contents are.

By day 3 I have it all memorized and don’t need to refer back to the sketch. By day 6 I may have moved things around, but it is somehow easier to remember what goes where away from pre-trip packing at home.

We have a lot of dry bags, enough to outfit four canoe family trips. And more, years ago we were accompanied on an Adirondack trip by my brother-in-law and his family. Nine people in seven canoes, we needed two vehicles and our canoe trailer to haul it all north.

It was a mountain of dry bags, and because we were at times going to be camped on different sites, I needed to be able to identify the bags/boats/people. I used duct tape and a Sharpie. It worked, and some of that duct tape is still on a few bags 10 years later (it ain’t pretty). Some tape that eventually peeled off, leaving ugly tape residue that I have yet to remove.

 

[Guest]

When I trip with others I reply to "where is....?" questions with "it's in Green Monster" or "it's in little purple" or "look in the red bag" etc.

I hadn’t considered color in my dry bag challenges, mostly because I am very color blind and tend to pay little attention to colors. That doesn’t stop the missus from showing me three apparently identical color swatches and asking which I like better. Seriously, after 30 years? You know I can’t see a difference, and don’t care.

I could, and should, pay more attention to mixed up bag colors when packing, if only for my own identifiable “Ok, the yellow bags are X type stuff and the blue bags are Y”. Of course those bags are actually orange and purple, but I know what I mean.

I know how “it’s in the little blue bag” would end up.

“It’s in the little blue bag”
“Which blue bag?”
“The little blue one on near the tent”
“Which tent?”
“MY TENT! That little blue bag over there dammit”, pointing.
“You mean the little purple bag?”
“Screw you. Let’s play ‘what color is this” with your plaid shirt next”

 

[Guest]

There’s paint pens, and then there’s paint pens

Neither of my hardware stores had Bel-arts/Scienceware paint pens, but the Home Depot had a fat tipped (Sharpie) enamel paint pen. Only in white, but for $3.50 it was worth a shot, and adds another color to the collection.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Sharpie-White-Bold-Point-Oil-Based-Paint-Marker-35235PP/203599976

I added some bold white stripes on the black bag. OK, that was worse-case white paint over black bag, but the paint quality isn’t close to the Scienceware/Bel-art pens, despite going over each line repeatedly between dries.

Of course the bold-tip white Home Depot Sharpie was $3.50, and a Bel-art (AKA Scienceware) lab marker tech-pen) is now $17. I ordered a new yellow Scienceware paint pen; Amazon tells me it will arrive “Between May 7 and June 17”. WFT?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002VA5S8Q/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I still don’t know how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ0epRjfGLw

But soon I’ll know how many dry bag stripes I can get out of a tech pen lab marker on our dark bags. Blue bags, green bags, freaking black bags.

The red and yellow (orange?) bags could stand some dark contrast striping for better visibility (and instant identification), and I’ve got black, red and blue left in tech ware paint pens

 

[Pringles]

This may not be helpful, but I make little tags, they say “clothes” or “jacket” or, for bigger bags, might list four or five things. Then I laminate them, and use a zip lock to attach the tag to the bag. The tags could be different colors, so a quick scan from 20 feet away lets you identify the blue bag with the yellow tag. I seen, so I also use scraps of things I’ve sewn, in foot and a half long strips, tied to the buckles. Again, I can quickly scan and see the yellow bag with the red rag or the yellow bag with the purple rag. They may not stay attached, but I’ve never had a problem. Nothing’s permanent, so you can change up how you pack. (As a beginning backpacker, I made a map of what I put in my pack, and had it in the top pocket. Some folks laughed at me, but I was usually already using what they were still looking for.). Back to lurkerland... Pringles.

 

[Guest]

The tags could be different colors, so a quick scan from 20 feet away lets you identify the blue bag with the yellow tag. I seen, so I also use scraps of things I’ve sewn, in foot and a half long strips, tied to the buckles. Again, I can quickly scan and see the yellow bag with the red rag or the yellow bag with the purple rag.

I don’t think color coordination, in tags or rags or even paint pen stripes, will help me much. I am both Deutan and Protan colorblind.

I can tell “That’s a yellow bag (could be orange) and that’s a blue bag (could be purple)”, but I have been conditioned to pay no attention to colors. Single blinking traffic signals are hell at night, best just stop.

But while I am striping dry bags for better floating yard sale visibility I have another idea that just might help me remember what goes in which bag, which is always different between trips, and sometimes repacked differently on the same trip.

 

[Guest]

Paint pens and patterns

Recped’s “Look in the red bag” got me thinking about color blindness and dry bags.

Patterns and shapes I see and remember. I can spot the shape of a hawk in a snag a half mile away; color blind people made the best airplane ground-spotters in WWII and were selected for that (dis)ability. Colors, eh, I don’t much see, and pay no attention.

I’m thinking not just stripes, which is just more color to not recognize or remember, but patterns; paint pen shapes, traced on dry bags via cheap stencils. Pink hearts, yellow moons, green clovers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-OYybJUR_I

Maybe a Fleur de lis for my furry winter hat and cold weather wear; I’m still hoping for a voluminous Sable robe to wear in the wind chair throne. Or a couple of lions, rampant. The (modern) heraldic achievement McCrea coat of arms should include armorial Lions rampant, facing a bottle of Blanton’s, with the motto “Ego autem ad somnum”.

A little alcohol wipe removed the grime and contaminates and it was on to bold paint pen stripes. Pen pen against yardstick, easy as drawing a straight line or two. Good enough on the black compression bags even with the crappy white Sharpie pen.

P3310014 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

On the more frequently used bags maybe not pink hearts and yellow moons. Although I have those in the cheap stencil kit.

P4010029 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

My yellow paint pen finally began to run dry, and red wasn’t far behind; not dry but with a messed up felt tip from running roughshod over some past gnarly surface. I still had black and blue.

My favorite dry bag, the 115L Pro-pack; some stripes and crescent moons on both sides.

P4010043 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

If nothing else my dry bags will be more visible floating downriver. And very distinctively mine elsewhere; unmistakable on trailer shuttles or group trips. And I bet I can remember the patterns easier than not-happening colors, or even colored stripes.

The other most often used dry bags

P3310007 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

P3310009 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

“It’s in the bag with the flower petals”. That’ll work. They’re magically delicious.


P3310017 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

 

[Pringles]

Those look nice. I like that idea.

 

[alsg]

They look to me like those fake jewel encrusted/bedazzled things pre-teen girls do.

 

[Guest]

They look to me like those fake jewel encrusted/bedazzled things pre-teen girls do.

Crap, I forgot the glitter.

 

[Guest]

Pringles, I tried a couple of the heat sealable Packcloth dry bags; only a couple, many of those are blue or purple and I need a new yellow paint pen. The enamel paint pens work fine on those bags, although the textured weave needs a light hand on the paint pen lest too much paint be dispensed.

I’m not thrilled with the white Sharpie paint pen, the paint distribution ranges between faint line and oh-god drippy puddle. The Scienceware paint pens leave a much crisper, less runny line. That cheap white Sharpie paint pen is a not-neat line nope, at least on dry bags.

The stencil kit was very helpful, I can barely draw a straight line (yardstick thanks), and freehanding flowers or hearts would have been a mess. With the stencils it was a snap.

Other things I was less than thrilled with. My contact info, Sharpie written (and some refreshed) on the outside of the dry bags had all faded to near illegibility. I don’t need it on the outside; if someone found a floating yard sale dry bag I expect they would open it. Sharpied contact info written inside the top of the bag should last unweathered much longer.

P3310018 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

P3310025 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

There is old tape or tape residue left from ID’s on some bags. It is fugly.

P3310020 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The still intact(ish) piece of duct tape must have been good stuff, probably Nashua 357; it was still well adhered and crazy sticky underneath. I’m out of 357, so I just laid a new strip of Gorilla tape over the smutch. The faint tape outline on the big red bag was easier to remove with an alcohol spray and soft bristle brush.

P3310022 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

BTW, I’ll say it again; the spray bottle of alcohol is a time (and alcohol) saver. Not to mention trying to find the cap to the bottle after I misplace it on the shop bench. I tried a variety of spray bottles and the alcohol eventually ate the pumps in every one. Except that empty bottle of “flea and tick spray”, that sprayer has held alcohol for a couple of years now, and been refilled several times. That flea and tick killer must be nasty stuff.

P3310027 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

What’s left? What do I have bench space left to lay out, and proper contrast paint pens?

The Missus favorite bag, a weird Tex-sport duffle that is twice as wide as it is deep. I don’t like that giant opening and junky straps, and never use it. Her “favorite” bag of course, so hearts it is. (I also noted that one side release buckle was missing the male part (the male insert, oh the irony) with the webbing was simply knotted through the female buckle. Guess I’ll fix that while I’m at it.

(Note: It was easier to undo any shoulder straps so I had a flat dry bag surface to paint both sides upon)

P4010030 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Waiting for another day and the arrival fresh yellow paint pen (“Between May 7 and June 17”) to stripe and pattern another 115L bag in blue, and a lot of DIY heat sealable Packcloth blue/purple bags (thanks Dan); custom stem tapers and chair bags, sleeping pad bags and etc.

P4010032 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

P4010034 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

And some older DIY heat seaalblebags in red or yellow that need black or blue stripes. I do like custom-marked DIY dry bags, but maybe another day when I have fresh pens, and empty bench space.

P4010036 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

I’ll wait until the new yellow paint pen arrives to stripe and pattern the dark ones, but I might as well see how the paint pens scribe on heat sealable Packcloth. X marks the spot on a red Packcloth chair bag.

P4010041 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

I needed a light hand on the paint pen running across the heat sealable Packcloth, it is more textured and paint grabby than the slick vinyl bags.

Striped and same-patterned on both sides all 9 dry bags only took a couple hours with yardstick and stencil, and half of that was 6.7% abv stencil choice contemplation and taking photos.

P4010048 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

 

[Pringles]

As I looked at that, it struck me that if there are any sort-of-small children in your life, with some supervision and two or three colors, you could have some gloriously decorated bags. That would be the kind of thing that you might look at initially and think, “Geeze... “ And in 10 years, you might not take them to the river lest they get damaged. I like your idea, and I hope it works well for you!

 

[Guest]

As I looked at that, it struck me that if there are any sort-of-small children in your life, with some supervision and two or three colors, you could have some gloriously decorated bags.

Pringles, I am the only small child I need in my life.

We do have a couple of portable 4x8 plywood tabletops that were a family and friend decorating activity.

I have no idea if the patterns will help me remember which bag is which; can’t hurt, they are at least highly visible, and individually distinctive.

I’m not done with the dry bags yet; somewhere down the to-do list is making more custom dry bags for a friend’s instruments, and I have an idea for a simple belly cover for a tandem boat, using heat sealable fabric, snap rivets and some 1” foam pipe insulation to make end drainage baffles.

While I’m making dry bags I want to make a custom one for a friend in Gaithersburg. Very visible and distinctive; a Justin Bieber profile in yellow, with rhinestones for eyes.

I have a bunch more bags to stripe and pattern, but before I reattach all the straps and put these away, one long un-done inspection. Stick my head inside each on and look up at the shop fluorescents for pin holes or damage.

Maybe this time I’ll remember to shake out the sand and dust before sticking my head in the bags.

 

[alsg]

While I’m making dry bags I want to make a custom one for a friend in Gaithersburg. Very visible and distinctive; a Justin Bieber profile in yellow, with rhinestones for eyes.

LoL. You are just mad that two people independently looked at these designs and immediately thought: kids’ artwork.

If the threatened custom-made Bieber-bedazzled dry bag is intended for me, please size it to fit a guitar. You apparently already are making some that size and I’d like the option of taking a guitar with me on a trip.

 

[Guest]

LoL. You are just mad that two people independently looked at these designs and immediately thought: kids’ artwork.

I am so enraged I almost wet my shop panties, took my football and went home. I may never confess my love of flowery spangles and glitter ever again.

If the threatened custom-made Bieber-bedazzled dry bag is intended for me, please size it to fit a guitar. You apparently already are making some that size and I’d like the option of taking a guitar with me on a trip.

I need your guitar, or guitar and case, in the shop to make a custom template. You are welcome too. I suppose.

When I have friend Joel up in the shop to work on his guide boats and bags I’ll let you know. Stop by one day while we’re ironing and we’ll get you dry bagged for strumming on trips.

I still have some leftover glitter. BYO rhinestones.