Luggage Suggestions - Travel with Rebreather, etc.

Hi all,

I've read a lot of the suggestions and threads on packing suggestions, but I can't find one that quite "fits the bill" and I'm hoping I can get some suggestions here. Below is background and requirements:

1. I travel with a rebreather in a rolling Pelican case that gets checked (obviously)

2. I also check a large rolling duffel bag with other dive equipment (fins, reels, SMBs, etc). I'll also try to fit a drysuit and undergarments in this bag so it can act as padding for video lights, etc.

3. I travel with a backpack with other miscellaneous stuff (books, magazines, iPad, computer, etc.) so I can't have another backpack for camera equipment

Now, on to the hard part - how to carry on camera equipment

1. I'll be traveling with a a7r4 in a Nauticam housing and the WWL1-B

2. I'll have video lights and strobes

3. When I'm in airports or at the destination, I need a way to "move around" with all four pieces of equipment (assuming I might not be able to get a luggage cart). 

My thought is to get a padded duffel bag type luggage that I can put over a shoulder or carry at my side. Then, I can rest it on top of the rolling Pelican case when I'm moving. In that situation, I would have the rolling duffel, the rolling Pelican case, and then my backpack.

Thoughts or ideas?

Thanks,

- brett

When I'm travelling with multiple bags I will have a main bag that has a tow rope for want of a better description.  Basically a loop of webbing with a buckle arrangement that you can loop through the top handle of second bag. Tip the main bag forward and the other bag lies on top.  This works best with the older style luggage with two roller wheels which you tip forward to roll, rather than spinner bags.

The trouble with a lot of rolling duffles is that many of them are long and narrow and tend to be easy to tip over, so at least one bag with a broad base makes life easier.

Using the above system I can move 4 large bags through a terminal with one towed pair in each hand, but they need to be the right sort of size.  Typically I'll have a suitcase of some sort with my clothing and it also has flash arms and other items in it and a dive bag.  Both are two wheel rollers.  Carry on I'll have a small spinner and a backpack.  The spinner it towed by one of the large bags.

Your on-board solution depends a lot on luggage allowances, you'll obviously need to carry on at least all your batteries.

Thanks, Chris. 

Do you put your camera & housing & lenses, etc. in the small spinner? If so, what spinner do you use?

Thanks,

- brett

Brett, that's exactly what I've done. My camera gear is in a Pelican Air for carry-on, so when I pull my CCR pelican case off the baggage belt, the camera pelican is bungeed to the extendable handle. Computer in a backpack, so that get's worn, and it's not too bad rolling around a wheeled gear duffle and a 1637 Pelican Air, one gets pushed and the other pulled. Anyway, works for me.

3 minutes ago, RVbldr said:

Brett, that's exactly what I've done. My camera gear is in a Pelican Air for carry-on, so when I pull my CCR pelican case off the baggage belt, the camera pelican is bungeed to the extendable handle. Computer in a backpack, so that get's worn, and it's not too bad rolling around a wheeled gear duffle and a 1637 Pelican Air, one gets pushed and the other pulled. Anyway, works for me.

Thanks! Three quick questions:

1. Which rebreather do you have and which Pelican case do you put it in? I'm just curious. I have a rEvo that I put into a Pelican Air 1607. 

2. Which Pelican Air case do you use for your camera? Is it the 1637? If so, that one is even bigger than the case I use for my rEvo so I'm assuming not.

3. Which camera & housing do you use? Do you have a picture of it in the Pelican Air case?

I've thought about doing exactly the same as the benefit is that if you are forced to check your camera equipment due to weight, at least it is in a Pelican Case. 

My other current options are:

1. The new CineBags Grouper XL. The advantage of this solution is that I can then use that same case to hold my camera on the boat and use it as a rinse tank while I'm diving. The downside is that it would get heavy to carry around an airport but I guess I could always use the shoulder strap. The other downside is that it doesn't provide any "real" protection for the equipment.

2. Something like the Think Tank Airport Roller bag that I could lash to the Pelican Air when I'm moving around with all my bags.

Thanks,

- brett

Hey Brett, 

1) I have a Prism2, so it's a bit deeper and thus the Pelican Air 1637 case. A buddy carries his rEvo onboard with a rain cover over it, his wife gives him a huge amount of crap " why don't you just check that thing!" ;-)

2) Pelican Air 1535. I still need to put a couple floats in the dive gear bag (Sthalsac) and I put camera itself in computer bag. 

3) Sony A7C with the WWL-1B. This case is just deep enough so I don't need to take off the handle ball mounts. The blue bag contains all the clamps, etc. I have a CMC-2 diopter that fits nicely in the spot with the port. Total weight is about 24 lbs. 

1 hour ago, TmxDiver said:

Thanks, Chris. 

Do you put your camera & housing & lenses, etc. in the small spinner? If so, what spinner do you use?

Thanks,

- brett

Hi Brett,

this is the bag - the housing is an Olympus EM-1 MkII so a bit smaller than the Nauti A7IV you have.It's lined with closed cell foam that I glued some fabric on and velcroed in place.  It's a regulation size domestic spinner from Samsonite - so completely anoymous.  You might need to check if the housing will fit in - possibly mainly for height, the handles are inside the case so they can interfere a little, I would guess you would get everything else in - WWL is about the size of the 170mm dome, there's some space above the dome for video lights, not sure how big they would be.  The dividers are from my photo back pack.

The spinner itself is a samsonite, nothing special.

2 minutes ago, ChrisRoss said:

Hi Brett,

this is the bag - the housing is an Olympus EM-1 MkII so a bit smaller than the Nauti A7IV you have.It's lined with closed cell foam that I glued some fabric on and velcroed in place.  It's a regulation size domestic spinner from Samsonite - so completely anoymous.  You might need to check if the housing will fit in - possibly mainly for height, the handles are inside the case so they can interfere a little, I would guess you would get everything else in - WWL is about the size of the 170mm dome, there's some space above the dome for video lights, not sure how big they would be.  The dividers are from my photo back pack.

Cool, thanks Chris.

- brett

13 minutes ago, RVbldr said:

Hey Brett, 

1) I have a Prism2, so it's a bit deeper and thus the Pelican Air 1637 case. A buddy carries his rEvo onboard with a rain cover over it, his wife gives him a huge amount of crap " why don't you just check that thing!" ;-)

2) Pelican Air 1535. I still need to put a couple floats in the dive gear bag (Sthalsac) and I put camera itself in computer bag. 

3) Sony A7C with the WWL-1B. This case is just deep enough so I don't need to take off the handle ball mounts. The blue bag contains all the clamps, etc. I have a CMC-2 diopter that fits nicely in the spot with the port. Total weight is about 24 lbs. 

Perfect, thanks!

Yeah, my biggest concern would be the handles on the housing fitting inside.

I just measured the height of the A7r4 housing and it is a hair under 8" to the top of the balls and about 7.5" to the top of the strobe ports. So, the 1510 definitely wouldn't fit the housing upright (7.6" interior) and the 1535 is even worse (7.2" interior). 

This is one of the "hidden costs" of moving from my a6400 to the a7r4. Even if I took off the ball mounts (which is easy) I think I would also need to take off the black plastic bushings on the strobe ports. 

Putting the case on its side is one option but that just seems like a bad idea.

Definitely need to do more research. 

Regards,

- brett

PS - I have quite a few friends who also do the "rEvo as a backpack" plan.

1 hour ago, TmxDiver said:

Perfect, thanks!

Yeah, my biggest concern would be the handles on the housing fitting inside.

I just measured the height of the A7r4 housing and it is a hair under 8" to the top of the balls and about 7.5" to the top of the strobe ports. So, the 1510 definitely wouldn't fit the housing upright (7.6" interior) and the 1535 is even worse (7.2" interior). 

This is one of the "hidden costs" of moving from my a6400 to the a7r4. Even if I took off the ball mounts (which is easy) I think I would also need to take off the black plastic bushings on the strobe ports. 

Putting the case on its side is one option but that just seems like a bad idea.

Definitely need to do more research. 

Regards,

- brett

PS - I have quite a few friends who also do the "rEvo as a backpack" plan.

My housing is right on 7"high at the top of the balls.  This is one area where you have a little more flexibility with a standard carry on roller bag, many airlines allow carry ons that are 9" high.  Of course you want to be sure you are able to carry them on, not really suited for checked baggage

There's endless variety among them with a wide range of qualities.  My samsonite one was not super expensive but the construction is a little on the light side and the bag's handle collapses inside the bag which interferes with packing a little. The two wheel roller bags give you more internal space as the spinner wheels are counted in the bag height dimension.  They stick out about 2".5: on spinners but are recessed on the two wheel style bags. 

I wanted to give a quick follow-up. I ended up getting the Pelican 1535 case so that if I have to check it, I'm not worried about anything getting damaged. I do have a Think Tank soft sided suitcase coming just to check out, but I'm probably going to return it and stick with the Pelican. 

I found it way more efficient in terms of space usage to remove the Nauticam handles and ball mounts. It only takes less than 5 minutes to re-assemble once I get to my destination.

I'm able to fit the "old style" (larger) Nauticam housing for the a7r4, WWL-1B, N100 Flat Port 45, two Keldan 8x video lights, two Retra strobes, GoPro housing, CMC macro lens and associated batteries, etc. into the case. Below is a picture of the case with all the equipment loaded up.

I forgot to weigh it but will do that before I leave on my next trip.

Completely off topic... But where did you get the battery storage cases for your AA batteries?

4 minutes ago, Sandyzoo2 said:

Completely off topic... But where did you get the battery storage cases for your AA batteries?

This is what I bought, but it is showing unavailable:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002UQWGM2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

- brett

1 hour ago, Sandyzoo2 said:

Completely off topic... But where did you get the battery storage cases for your AA batteries?

I have Powerex cases:  https://mahaenergy.com/battery-holder-for-4-aa-aaa-batteries/

also:  https://www.photonlight.com/batteries-and-battery-chargers/powerex-8-cell-battery-holder/

also:https://www.onlybatteries.com/showitem.asp?ItemID=22744.102&cat1=&uid=2404

you can get 4 and 8 cell cases - invaluable for travel and keeping batteries in sets.

I need to get some of these!

Just to continue to take this thread slightly off topic... this peek into people's transportation systems is very interesting. I have bought some battery cases, as I love tht idea.

It occurs to me that we ar putting batteries in cases, using port covers to protect the ports, using lense covers to protect lenses and domes.  But I spy two strobes that don't seem to be protected specifically.  Are there any travel / storage covers for strobes?  I have a Retra Prime, for example, and Id like to ttry and protect it - particularly the front "glass".

2 minutes ago, Sandyzoo2 said:

Are there any travel / storage covers for strobes?  I have a Retra Prime, for example, and Id like to ttry and protect it - particularly the front "glass".

I always put the white diffusers on mine prior to packing them; this takes care of the front glass. The sides are already protected by neoprene jackets.

1 hour ago, Barmaglot said:

I always put the white diffusers on mine prior to packing them; this takes care of the front glass. The sides are already protected by neoprene jackets.

Ah.. great idea!

49 minutes ago, Sandyzoo2 said:

Ah.. great idea!

There's also the Retra Protective Ring. With that on the strobe the Retra can sit "face down". Not quite a packing-type protector but useful more generally.

https://www.retra-uwt.com/collections/shop/products/protective-ring

If you have an old wetsuit kicking around - cutting the sleeves off makes for good packing tubes

On 3/16/2022 at 11:38 AM, TimG said:

If you have an old wetsuit kicking around - cutting the sleeves off makes for good packing tubes

Do you remove the neoprene protective sleeve from your retra while traveling then Tim? Otherwise I'd imagine trying to slide it into a wetsuit sleeve would be tough? I guess a neoprene zippable or velcro pocket would work though. I think I have one of those.