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The folks at Watershed® like to say they are obsessed with water. CEO Eric Revels began his career as a whitewater raft guide in the U.S. and South America while he pursued his dream to be a whitewater slalom canoe racer. Throughout his adventures, he grew tired of dealing with damp gear stored in drybags that were supposed to keep things dry.
So Revels set out to build Watershed Dry Bags. The Watershed brand starts with the fabric. Most drybags are coated in PVC, which wears out more quickly, stiffens in cold weather and releases toxic fumes into the environment. Watershed bags are made with a polyurethane-coated 420 denier Cordura® nylon rip-stop fabric that’s five times more abrasion-resistant than PVC and chemically stable.
The Watershed team also paid close attention to seams, often the source of rips and tears. The fabric is double- and triple-layered at meeting points, and instead of stitching the seams, they are welded together with high-pressure radio waves, creating an ultra-strong seamless bond.
To create an airtight closure, Watershed looked to the seal used on typical food storage bags for the freezer. The bags use the same technology, but the ZipDry® grip stays airtight and watertight in up to 300 feet of underwater pressure.
Watershed put the technology to use in duffels, backpacks, technical bags and others. Each piece is finished with design details like compression straps, multiple lash points and easy-access openings. For more information, visit www.drybags.com.