What’s the best bag to bring with you to the beach? We don’t know. If you want a backpack that won’t just separate your wet and dry clothes, but also allow the wet ones to drip and start drying, the Patagonia Planing Roll Top just may be the perfect bag for your summer.
Instead of having two separate interior compartments for dry and wet clothes, respectively, the bag puts a large outer mesh pocket for all the wet stuff instead. That way, you can keep the entire inner chamber for all your dry gear, with all the used, wet stuff going to the exterior mesh pocket, where it can drip freely while being exposed to the air. That way, you don’t end up with a pool of water on your bag, while the air circulation helps accelerate the drying process for the wetsuits, swim shorts, and towels you’re taking back home.
The Patagonia Planing Roll Top’s external mesh pocket is designed to lay flat when not in use, so it doesn’t stick out, catching onto things, while all of your clothes are still dry. Despite that, the stretchy material allows it to expand to accommodate a good load of wet gear, so you can throw in all of your dripping clothes in there, whether you spent the day surfing at the beach, paddleboarding at the lake, or just sweating like a pig in the gym. Inside, you get a large 35-liter chamber to pack all your dry gear, making it a perfect storage size for a day or two in the water, with a small interior pocket for organizing small essentials.
The roll-top design allows you to compress or expand the bag to accommodate different sizes of load, so you can roll it multiple times when you’re carrying a small stash and make do with one roll when you pack it to the brim. Exterior straps let you fasten down the roll-top opening to keep your gear secure, although you can also use those same straps to secure a board to the outside of the bag, if you don’t mind carrying all that weight.
The Patagonia Planing Roll Top’s main compartment has a slippery fabric lining that you can turn inside out for easy cleaning, as well as seam taping all throughout to keep water and dirt from entering the bag. Construction is 300-denier polyester with a TPU film laminate, so it should hold up to your waterside adventures while keeping all your gear inside clean and dry. With the top fully rolled out, it measures 30 x 19 x 4.5 inches (height x width x depth).
It has breathable carrying straps to keep your shoulders from sweating, as well as a padded rear panel, so you never have to put up with the feel of hard objects pushing against your back. There’s also an adjustable sternum strap and an adjustable waist belt that you can use to better distribute the weight for those times you decide to load it with a bigger-than-usual stash.
The Patagonia Planing Roll Top is available now, priced at $129.