Chart cases -- NRS, Ortlieb

[djlewis]

Thanks to Kate for pointing out (in the NOAA chart thread) the NRS chart cases...

http://www.nrsweb.com/shop/product.asp?pfid=2975&pdeptid=1766

I see they get good reviews, but I'd still like to see one in person -- anybody know where they might be on sale locally? I don't see them on the REI web site, so I suspect they are not in the store either.

Meanwhile, having tried all the other brands and generally been disappointed -- which is why I want to get my hands on one before buying -- I finally found this one from Ortlieb which works quite well...

http://www.ortliebusa.com/CartGenie/prod-47.htm

It has a roll-top closure (fold-top, actually) with a nice velcro seal. Of course, you have to be assiduous about actually sealing the seal, but that's true of everything from hatches to VHFs.

--David

[kate]

I believe the cases are made for NRS, so you won't find them elsewhere. You are welcome to come see mine It has a simple but robust ziplock-type seal. My old one had this too but was very stiff - I actually stood on it to make it seal. This new one I can do with my hands, easily.

k

[djlewis]

I believe the cases are made for NRS, so you won't find them elsewhere. You are welcome to come see mine It has a simple but robust ziplock-type seal. My old one had this too but was very stiff - I actually stood on it to make it seal. This new one I can do with my hands, easily.

k

Hi, Kate:

Love to come see -- and paddle -- with you. But why'd you move so far away I miss my informal Greenland rolling lessons on Walden! (Loved your Nova Scotia report and pictures!)

I don't quite understand why items that NRS contracts out can't be sold in REI or other places. My guess is that the majority of NRS branded items are manufactured by someone else. It seems unlikely that they have their own factories for everything from wet suits to paddle boards to water shoes. Maybe the chart case is too recent to have made it into other catalogs yet.

In any case, it's useful to know the NRS chart case has a zip-lock type closure. But that raises an issue of durability in my mind -- how many open-close cycles will it endure before deteriorating? I think one of the many chart cases I have tried and discarded over the years had a similar closure. Glad to hear that NRS's is easy-close, however, as I seem to recall that with the other zip-lock I tried was hard to be sure it was completely sealed -- maybe that was the same as yours (ah here it is -- Seal Line).

--David

[kate]

I miss Walden too! Oh, very much! But... one does what one has to do, and it's also pretty nice to live 20 minutes from New Inlet, the South Shore's answer to Plum Island.

My old case (I couldn't find it online, probably not made anymore, and rightly so) was always difficult to close. It just kept getting worse. The new one - well, time will tell but it's much more flexible from the get-go. And I figure it was cheap, so it's an easy experiment to make. The closure is rather different from the Seal Line one that you reference.

Let me know if you come south to paddle sometime!

K

[djlewis]

I miss Walden too! Oh, very much! But... one does what one has to do, and it's also pretty nice to live 20 minutes from New Inlet, the South Shore's answer to Plum Island.

My old case (I couldn't find it online, probably not made anymore, and rightly so) was always difficult to close. It just kept getting worse. The new one - well, time will tell but it's much more flexible from the get-go. And I figure it was cheap, so it's an easy experiment to make. The closure is rather different from the Seal Line one that you reference.

Yes, it is cheap. Maybe I'll try it. But I just looked at my collection of old, non-functional cases and see why I am gun-shy.

Let me know if you come south to paddle sometime!

Not a question of wanting. I want. Letcha know when I *can*.