C-Forum

I am looking at ordering airbags for both my Probe 12 and my Caption to make room for gear, but I am having trouble pinning down the bag sizes that I have now to figure out what size I should be looking at buying.

When I pulled out the bag out of the Probe it measured 56" deflated. If it matters these bags were from Mohawk.

My Dagger has Bell bags that measure 70" deflated or 66" inflated.

It seems like I am right between two sizes with both bags.

Thanks,

Kyle

If this helps, my experience is that Mohawk 60s tend to fall around 53" back from the bow when inflated. But, you can easily make them shorter than that by making the bag cages shorter.

There isn't a standard, unfortunately, but the upshot is that it looks like Gaia and Mohawk bags are offset sizes from each other. When I was outfitting a boat, I didn't really look at Harmony, but they might be worth checking too. I don't know what sizes NRS offers their silver bags in, but they are crap. Stay away from them. (wimpier material and no pump/deflate plug).

HTH,
Shep

We put 60' airbags in the probe 12

Ok, I just measured the placement of the bag anchor on a Mohawk Viper. Measuring from just below the deck plate, the anchor patch is approximately 53", centered ... give or take an inch.

I don't know how much gear you're talking about but you can put it partially under the bags as well. No need (necessarily) to have purely open space for gear.

Would it damage the bags if I tied the cages so that I would get an extra 18-24 inches of interior room? The bags I have in the Caption almost touch my solo saddle. I am setting it up as a to pull dual duty as a tandem in addition to solo tripping, so I definitely need to clear the space.

Thanks,

Kyle

Would it damage the bags if I tied the cages so that I would get an extra 18-24 inches of interior room?

Not a bit. Folks do it all the time.

When I setup an ME tandem I was able to keep the bags the full 53" inflated size. But the ME is longer and my boys are small. I can see why you'd be looking for that extra space in the Caption

Wiggins, you mentioned bag length and carrying gear. I tend to use short bags (30" in my MR Synergy, 48" in Millbrook Big Boy), but when I carry camping gear, it is in tapered kayak inflatable storage bags (Watershed and Voyageur). The fat end of each storage bag is tied down to the hull just ahead of the triple saddle, and the narrow end extends under the float bag, where it is also tied down. Quite a bit of gear can go under float bags, but it should be tied down, and if possible should constitute positive flotation.