In Reply to: Re: Dive bag recommedation? posted by Chris on February 15, 2006 at 17:04:10:

I've had a wheeled Stahlsac for 7 years. It's been to and from
a lot of boat trips (hundreds) and been on lots of trips through
airports, train stations, bus terminals, taxis and general
luggage transport services all over the world. I have even had
the bag on a donkey transport cartage in Mexico and a side car
motorcycle nearly dragged through the Wan Chai district in Hong
Kong.

The screws that held in the plastic feet and wheel axel in place
needed replacing after two years due to rust and fatigue. I
replaced with titaniun hex screws, washers and nuts. Never a
problem since. The deep fin pockets are one of the best features
of the bag. They will hold large fins and other things like a
required snorkle or up to 2 break-down travel pole spears. The
zippers however started to skip teeth at about year three. I took
the bag to a wet suit repair shop and they replaced the fin
pocket zippers with heavier duty ones for $25.

This past year, the top handle is starting to wear out. The
cordura diener material the handle is sewn to is also starting
to frey. The bottom plastic frame the axel mount to the bag
has cracked. One corner of the bottom front compartment is
starting to show signs of the Cordura Diener material becoming
thread-bare.

When I replace the bag in the next few months, it will probably
be with one I saw in NY last NOV. It was REALLY well built
without being over engineered with tons of plastic. It's made by
ScubaPro and is a bag they have been selling as designed for
years. It holds the almost the same amount as the Stahlsac and does cost less. With ScubaPro's warranty history, it will be a
sweet solution.

When it comes to dive bag engineering, my opinion is that
manufacturers have steadily been trying to make bags larger and
larger as divers bring more and more stuff on their trips. At the
same time, they are dilligently trying to keep production and
metarials costs down. I don't see the support components that
make up the bag becoming more and more robust as well to support
the greater weight and bulk divers want to stuff in the bag.

One last tip, don't ever put your weights in your dive bag.