show notes
Overview
Your host, Lizzy Scully, is calling in from Scullbinder Ranch in the wild heart of Southwest Colorado — and yes, her life is exactly as adventurous as it sounds. Lizzy and her husband Steve Fassbinder run Four Corners Guides, a packrafting instructional guide service, and if that weren’t enough, she also serves as president of the American Packrafting Association. Basically, if it involves a tiny inflatable boat in a remote place, Lizzy’s your person.This episode has a special treat: a deep-dive gear review from expert paddler and all-around nice guy Tony Miely, owner of 4Corners Riversports in Durango, Colorado. Tony puts six throw bags through their paces — because when someone’s swimming a rapid, you really don’t want to be fumbling with a bad bag. More info below!
SUMMARY
Tony reviews six throw bags suited for packrafting, kayaking, and smaller watercraft. The first two are the Sockdolager Equipment bag, notable for its large mouth opening and optional waist belt, and the River Station Gear 60-foot bag, a straightforward and reliable option with a Cordura shell. The River Station uses quarter-inch Dyneema line, which absorbs less water than traditional polypropylene line.
The next two bags lean toward the ultralight end (though the Sockdolager bag is also ultralight). The Hyperlite Mountain Gear is the lightest of the group and comes with a waist hip pack, though the snug fit of the throw bag into the hip bag makes for slower deployment. The River Station Gear hip pack doubles as a fanny pack with an external pocket for a water bottle and accessories, making it a versatile all-in-one option, though its 55-foot rope is shorter than others.
The final two bags are heavier-duty options. The Salamander Golden Retriever features an eight-foot pigtail with a quick-release for clipping onto boats, making it well-suited for guiding. The WWTC Classic 20-meter bag is the heaviest and most robust, built with thick Cordura and PVC, using 3/8-inch rope ideal for Z-drags and professional rescue scenarios.
In terms of weight, the bags range from 0.9 pounds (Sockdolager wihout the hip bag and Hyperlite) up to 2.2 pounds (WWTC guide bag), with prices spanning from $62 to $190.
Tony noted that tube or conical-shaped bags throw most easily, and wider mouth openings make restuffing faster. His personal favorites were the WWTC and the Sockdollager for their throwing performance.
Sections
- 00:25: Welcome to the Packrafting Life Podcast
- 1:50: Exploring Lightweight Throw Bags
- 6:45: Unique Features of Throw Bags
- 9:03: Weight Comparisons of Throw Bags
- 10:48: Favorite Styles for Throwing
- 11:36: Pricing Overview of Throw Bags
- 12:30: Closing Thoughts and Feedback
Please note the Sockdolager Equipment throw bag does NOT come with dyneema line, but rather standard polypropylene line.
specs
The River Station ZHP Waist Throw Bag
Cost: $119.00
Comes in: lots of colors
Company Description: This bag was designed to be the new standard in ultra-safe gear. All new quick release buckle that locks firmly. A 55′ easy to stuff throw bag sits inside of a full zipper pack. When used properly, there is no chance of any rope coming out. Even after a rough swim, your rope will be there with you. The new version includes a carabiner pocket on the front and now has 55′ of rope. The whole pack is on a quick release system to ditch everything quickly in the event of getting snagged.
Rope Spec: Double braid polypro rope. THIS Weave pattern is stronger, makING the rope stuff more compact, and is softer on the hands. The breaking strength is nearly 1500lbs which is quite good for a compact rope.
Salamander Golden Retriever Throw Bag
Cost: $113.75
Comes in: Orange
Company Description: The Retriever (packed with 5/16″ 1000 lb MFP Polypropylene Core rope) and Golden Retriever (packed with 5/16″ 1000 lb MFP Spectra Core rope) are the benchmarks for all other rescue bags. The combination of tow tether and throw rope makes these bags the most widely sought waist-worn rescue bag in the industry. The bag rides comfortably below your PFD and out of the way of kayak cockpits, an oh-so-natural fit! Popular among paddle rafters and guides who often rely on the 8′ of tether line with a carabiner to quickly set up a flip line!
Rope Specs: 52′, 5/16″ 2500 lb MFP Spectra Core throw line with an 8-foot tow tether (60′ total) yellow with red tracer (Stuffed bag weight – 1lb 8.5oz)
Sockdolager Equipment Flare 70′ Throw Bag & Waist Belt
Cost: $128.00 (Throw Bag with 70′ rope) ⼮ $92.00 (Throw Bag with 70′ rope ) ⼮ $62.00 (Just throw bag)
Company Description: The Flare holds 70 feet of 1/4″ rope in a tapered bag that is easy to throw, easy to stuff, and super lightweight and compact. The Flare Throw Bag is designed with input from packrafting instructors who require a 70 foot rope that is still light enough to backpack with, and compact enough to wear on their person. Available as the throw bag only or with the waist belt holster.
Rope Specs: 70′ of 1/4″ polypropylene rope, with a maximum tensile strength of 950 pounds.
WWTC Classic 20m Throw Bag
Cost: $181
Company Description: This modern waist belt throw bag has a strong floating rope appropriate for swimmer rescue and equipment retrieval.
Rope Specs:
Rope Diameter: 7.8mm (5/16 inch)
Rope Length: 20 meter (65 feet)
Rope Tensile Strength: 14 kN (3000 lb)
The rope has a polypropylene core with a polypropylene/polyester sheath. Its bag has a padded carabiner sheath and wide opening for easy repacking. A velcro closure strap allows for quick access to the rope.
Professional rescuers will enjoy the glow stick holder and the reflective tape on the throw bag.
Hyperlite Mtn Gear River Rescue Throw Bag
Cost: $190.00
Company Description: The River Rescue Throw Bag is an ultralight, wearable, rescue-ready device designed for packrafters and paddlers. In the event of a capsize, can you rescue your crew with a device so light it floats? Absolutely. The River Rescue Throw Bag ensures that the chance of a positive outcome is high. Comfortably worn at all times, it stays compact and unobtrusive whether you’re in or out of your boat.
Rope Specs: Crafted with 100% waterproof and durable Dyneema Composite Fabrics, and equipped with 65 feet of Ultraline Water Rescue Rope from Sterling.
River Station Limited Edition Throw Bag – 60′
Cost: $79.00
Company Description: There’s not much in the way of a description for this particular bag even on the website, since it’s a limited edition 60′. The main bags this company sell are 55′ and 70′, which are the Kayak/Packraft Throw Bag and the B.O.A.T. Classic Rescue Bag.
But from River Station… This super fun throw bag is made from high quality materials and has 60 feet of high quality, compact 7mm rope. (1200lbs) With these bright colors, your swimmer will totally see it coming! Fits great in a kayak or whitewater raft and is super easy to accurately throw long distances.
transcript
00:00:23.444 –> 00:00:26.584
Hey, y’all. Welcome back to the Packrafting Life podcast.
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I am Lizzy Scully, your host, here reporting from Scullbinder Ranch off the
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grid, deep in the high desert of Southwest Colorado.
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My husband, Steve Fassbinder, a.k.a. Doom, and I run Four Corners Guides,
00:00:40.364 –> 00:00:43.024
a packrafting and bikerafting instructional guide service.
00:00:43.484 –> 00:00:47.104
As well, I am the president of the American Packrafting Association,
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the main partner of this pod. And you should join this awesome nonprofit that
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advocates for packrafter safety and education, access, and community.
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I will include a link to the join as a member in the show notes.
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So I started this pod a few years ago as a hopefully engaging free source of
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information for the packrafting community.
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And I love doing it. It’s fun and I get to talk with some of the most interesting,
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knowledgeable, experienced, and stoked packrafters in the world.
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I do this podcast for free, though if there are any sponsors out there stoked
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to support my efforts, please reach out. I don’t mind.
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For this episode, number 17, we’re doing a special review of lightweight pack
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rafting throw ropes, which you can watch on YouTube or listen to on the pod.
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It features Tony Miley, owner of Southwest Colorado’s premier paddling store,
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Four Corners River Sports, located on the Animas River in Durango.
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Tony is a longtime badass kayaker and all-around super knowledgeable river dude.
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We hope you enjoy this latest episode.
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Hi, Tony with 4Fours River Sports here. Today, we’re going to be taking a look at some throw bags.
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These bags that we’re looking at today will be mainly geared towards path grafting
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and kayaking, maybe inflatable kayaks as well, but smaller craft in general.
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Bigger rafts, things like that, we’d be looking at larger bags,
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heavier duty rope, that kind of thing.
00:02:10.578 –> 00:02:13.458
Today we’re going to look at kind of lightweight, compact ability,
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and just kind of ease of carrying and transport while hiking and that kind of thing.
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So today we’re going to start here. We’ve got the sock dollager equipment throw bag.
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This made of nice lightweight nylon material keeps the bag itself really lightly.
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Something I like about this bag as well is it has a very large mouth opening.
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So when you’re re-stuffing this bag, it’s a little easier to get rope back into it.
00:02:40.518 –> 00:02:44.558
You’ll see in some of these other bags, a narrow opening makes it a little tougher
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to get your rope back in the bag, make a second attempt for a throw.
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Quick cinch around.
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Velcro here keeps it tied together. This bag also has the ability to add a waist-worn
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belt, a quick-rease belt, so you kind of keep this bag on you.
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You’ll see that with some of these other bags.
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This one, it’s as is, it’s just a bag. It’s flipped in your seat behind you or in your boat in front.
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It uses about a quarter-inch Dyneema line, which is nice.
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The Dyneema lines hold a little bit less water, a little less stretch than the Polypro line.
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So think about all these with throw bags.
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It doesn’t matter how much the bag weighs. Once this rope gets wet,
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these are all going to be considerably heavier than their weights that they show as dry.
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Next bag we have here is from River Station Gear. These guys are based out of Salida, Colorado.
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Company does tons of fun products. throw bags
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are kind of one of their go-tos this is a 60
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foot throw bag again nylon outer shell
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with some heavy duty cordura again a quarter inch
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spectral line here again doesn’t hold
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as much water as like the poly pro line it’s still floating and all that kind
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of stuff good strong bag pretty lightweight pretty simple design on these bags
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you know simple tube clip on top Clip it in the bag and kind of standard mouth size opening.
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Next, we’ve got kind of moving into a little bit lighter weight.
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This is pack rafting, very pack rafting oriented. This is by far the lightest
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bag that we’ve got here on the table. This is a hyper light bag.
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This guy here comes with the waist pack.
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Very simple, plastic, fast-ex buckle clip. Easy to carry on you.
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It does, when you go to open this, it’s a snug fit in here.
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So you want to, you know, it’s not maybe the quickest deployment in and out
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of this hip pack, but it is definitely the lightest.
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This, again, is a very small, like quarter-inch or six-mil spectral line.
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So a good, strong line. Very small.
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It’s a little trickier if you’re throwing to someone it’s
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like grip a thicker rope’s easier to hold on to the
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smaller the rope you get more into a small package but
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it’s not as easy to deal with as this as a swimmer
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still you know the lightest bag here the groove and definitely if you’re going
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for pack weight something to think about something to keep in mind is smaller
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diameter ropes like this are a little trickier to work with in rescue situations
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or trying to put z-drags and press-icks on,
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it’s just more difficult to work with in smaller diameter line, in those cases.
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The larger ropes work better with pulleys and other press-icks.
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Moving on, we’ve got another one here from River Station Gear.
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It’s kind of one of my personal favorites here.
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What you’ve got is a click-release waist pack.
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So, you know, safe and easy to wear on the rubber.
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You’ve got, it’s basically a small fanny pack with throwback inside.
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So this throwback’s short it’s only a
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55 footer but you know smaller creeks
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that kind of thing where you don’t have giant spans to cover or just something
00:06:01.883 –> 00:06:06.503
safe to have on you this is a great way to go one thing i like about this is
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this fanny pack and i got side hikes and that kind of thing your dalgene drops
00:06:11.383 –> 00:06:16.123
right into there and it’s got a little external pocket so you want to go do a.
00:06:16.891 –> 00:06:19.711
Side vision on the salt river or something you get
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your water bottle in there you still have room on this
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outer pocket for any accessories you might need to
00:06:25.151 –> 00:06:27.911
bring with you like headlamps things like that and you’ve got
00:06:27.911 –> 00:06:31.531
yourself a thing i love packs like this that see double duty you’ve got your
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throwback you got your water you got your goods that’s great little all-around
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situation on these guys again it is a little short on the 55 foot rope but you
00:06:43.451 –> 00:06:45.871
know for again smaller creeks rivers, that kind of thing.
00:06:46.451 –> 00:06:53.051
It still does fine. It gets you out of lost situations. This is the Salamander Golden Retriever.
00:06:53.511 –> 00:06:57.651
I do like this bag as well. I think it’s a great bag for guiding.
00:06:58.251 –> 00:07:04.771
One of the unique features of this bag is it has a eight-foot pigtail attached to it.
00:07:04.851 –> 00:07:07.811
So if you’re wearing it, you’ve got a client or a friend swim.
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This is around your waist. You can clip onto that boat here and get it to shore real quickly.
00:07:13.311 –> 00:07:16.691
It does have a quick release on there, so it is safe to do so.
00:07:17.071 –> 00:07:18.511
You can ditch the whole thing if need be.
00:07:19.011 –> 00:07:24.251
As well as your standard built-in throw bag on this end of it,
00:07:24.651 –> 00:07:26.731
you can still toss this side.
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It’s, I believe, a 60-foot on that side throw bag.
00:07:32.891 –> 00:07:35.331
So you can still toss this whole thing with it.
00:07:35.651 –> 00:07:38.811
Tossing full belts isn’t quite as efficient as
00:07:38.811 –> 00:07:41.911
some of the more streamlined bags that you see here but it
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does get the job done if you use these in a
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lot of situations and it is a solid design
00:07:48.331 –> 00:07:53.451
product especially teaching where you’re fishing people’s kayaks out of the
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water all the time all right finally we have the wwtc classic 20 meter throw
00:07:57.571 –> 00:08:05.951
bag this is a super heavy duty bag and system again you have your waste waste valve here.
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Deployable bag, slides out here. This is all heavy-duty Cordura,
00:08:12.036 –> 00:08:15.496
and this is a beefy PVC outer shell.
00:08:15.776 –> 00:08:20.616
This stuff is made for guiding, made for professional river rescue situations.
00:08:21.536 –> 00:08:28.436
What we’ve got here is like a 3-8 inch wide, so a little bit thicker than the rest of these guys.
00:08:28.676 –> 00:08:34.276
It does make it work well fully in prussic situations where you’re rigging up
00:08:34.276 –> 00:08:35.696
a Z-Drag and that kind of thing.
00:08:35.696 –> 00:08:38.856
So definitely this is more a professional’s bag
00:08:38.856 –> 00:08:42.016
or you know working bag this is the heaviest
00:08:42.016 –> 00:08:45.016
of the lot here but definitely a solid
00:08:45.016 –> 00:08:50.156
design something you consider big big water chips where you know there’s going
00:08:50.156 –> 00:08:55.076
to be problems something to take with yeah another nice feature again this one
00:08:55.076 –> 00:09:02.316
opens up wider at the top mouth for easy restuffing this wwtc bag also So it
00:09:02.316 –> 00:09:04.336
reloads real easily into that sling.
00:09:04.456 –> 00:09:07.616
It’s a nice big wide opening and tapered design of the bag.
00:09:07.896 –> 00:09:14.096
Just a quick weight comparison on these bags. Got our Sockdollager here weighing in at 0.9 pounds.
00:09:14.796 –> 00:09:21.676
Our simple river station gear. Let’s see what that weighs in at 1.2.
00:09:22.216 –> 00:09:26.356
Got the Hyperlite bag here. I’m thinking this is going to be our lightest.
00:09:27.336 –> 00:09:33.156
Right in there at that 0.9 as well. same as the Soctologer again you do have
00:09:33.156 –> 00:09:41.216
that waste pack gear on this one river station gear water bottle holder fading pack.
00:09:42.458 –> 00:09:46.598
1.4, yep, 1.4 on that one.
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Got our Salamander Golden Retriever with tags on.
00:09:52.778 –> 00:09:56.538
So, you know, extra point there. Now, 1.6 on that guy.
00:09:57.318 –> 00:10:02.158
Heavy-duty guide bag. This is going to be the heaviest.
00:10:03.138 –> 00:10:09.498
Coming in, yeah, 2.2 pounds. Just for comparison’s sake, I have a couple of
00:10:09.498 –> 00:10:11.478
big heavy-duty raft bags here.
00:10:11.478 –> 00:10:15.178
So you know we’re comparing to this is a nrs
00:10:15.178 –> 00:10:18.498
pro uh rescue bag
00:10:18.498 –> 00:10:25.218
this is big three eighths inch spectra cord still but weight wise you know you’re
00:10:25.218 –> 00:10:35.378
2.4 pounds on something like that big salamander duty raft bag 2.3 so you know
00:10:35.378 –> 00:10:37.838
going with some of these lighter bags the 1.2,
00:10:38.338 –> 00:10:42.238
10-pound bags, you’re saving an extra pound of weight just in the bag and the
00:10:42.238 –> 00:10:44.778
rope itself. So something to keep in mind when you’re hiking.
00:10:46.038 –> 00:10:49.058
The bags I chose are kind of my favorite style to throw.
00:10:49.338 –> 00:10:52.638
All those are going to be kind of the tube shape or conical shape.
00:10:53.118 –> 00:10:54.738
They tend to throw the easiest.
00:10:55.618 –> 00:10:59.758
The trickier ones to throw are the ones that keep the waist pack on,
00:10:59.858 –> 00:11:02.458
like that salamander. It can be a little trickier to throw.
00:11:02.698 –> 00:11:04.638
But all of these throw really well.
00:11:05.098 –> 00:11:10.058
As far as repacking goes, keep in mind those larger mouth ones open a little
00:11:10.058 –> 00:11:15.818
bigger are a lot easier to repackage or re-stuff and what are your favorites?
00:11:16.238 –> 00:11:20.838
I have to say I’m a big fan of this WWTC,
00:11:21.638 –> 00:11:28.138
bag that threw really well this guy here first one I threw was the Cyclologer
00:11:28.138 –> 00:11:32.778
bag it was also a great, I like that conical shape to it, threw really well
00:11:32.778 –> 00:11:35.458
and let rope out really nicely.
00:11:36.598 –> 00:11:41.978
Quick price recap here on our throw bags. Sock Doliger equipment comes in at
00:11:41.978 –> 00:11:49.398
$62 for just the bagged rope, or $92 with the addition add-on waist belt.
00:11:49.778 –> 00:11:55.738
River Station gear, simple, easy thrower. This guy runs in, comes in at $79.
00:11:56.378 –> 00:12:01.918
Our Hyperlite bag here, ultra lightweight, comes in at $190.
00:12:02.918 –> 00:12:06.718
The river station gear hip pack
00:12:06.718 –> 00:12:09.518
slash throw bag all-in-one comes in
00:12:09.518 –> 00:12:15.618
at 119 our salamander retriever bag which again i think is a great guiding bag
00:12:15.618 –> 00:12:22.218
comes in at 78 for the regular rope and i believe it’s around 100 for the spectral
00:12:22.218 –> 00:12:27.798
line in that one and finally our big heavy duty guide bag comes in at 160.
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165, somewhere right in there.
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Thanks so much for listening in. We’d love your feedback, thoughts,
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or suggestions for interviews.
00:12:35.818 –> 00:12:40.198
So please get in touch with us at thepackraftinglifeatgmail.com.
00:12:40.238 –> 00:12:43.978
You can find this podcast on Podbean, Spotify, or Apple.
00:12:44.258 –> 00:12:48.538
Episodes also appear on YouTube, including some video-specific episodes.
00:12:48.678 –> 00:12:55.478
We also have show notes and full transcriptions for most episodes on our fourcornersguides.com
00:12:55.478 –> 00:12:59.658
website with the four spelled out under the menu item podcast.
00:12:59.898 –> 00:13:04.378
So thanks again and have a wonderful month until we meet again.