I am in the process of acquiring several large vacuum storage bags when it occurred to me, why not store my caving gear in them when at home...

possible pros: no cave/muddy smell, less space take up
possible cons: puncturing? and more difficult to get to.

So my question is has anyone tried storing caving gear in them before? lest I ruin my new toys trying...

I can't imagine wellies, helmet, belt, SRT gear, tackle sacks, rope, metalwork, anything neoprene or even an oversuit would compress much in a vacuum bag. In fact the only thing I think might take less space is a fury suit, which tends to be the least bulky and least filthy part of my kit (as it's the only thing allowed in the washing machine). So why bother?

I store a lot of my kit in big plastic barrels.

Pros: no cave/ muddy smell, keeps the wet in (dirty kit in the house or in the car), keeps the wet out (clean kit outside), can't be punctured, easy to get to
Cons: takes up quite a lot of space

AliRoll said:

I am in the process of acquiring several large vacuum storage bags when it occurred to me, why not store my caving gear in them when at home...

possible pros: no cave/muddy smell, less space take up
possible cons: puncturing? and more difficult to get to.

So my question is has anyone tried storing caving gear in them before? lest I ruin my new toys trying...

Click to expand...

When I used them, they were great for moving house across Europe, but didn't last much longer than the trip out and the trip back.

I tried a small vacuum sealer for flashguns when contemplating submerging them in Pridhamsleigh lake. The trick was to suck just enough air out to reduce buoyancy but enable the controls to be worked. Limited success but the principle was fine.  We bought the sealer in Lidls. The bag material comes in rolls.

I thought the best way was to encapsulate it in mud

I'm not sure about caving gear, but a small parcel of vac packed loo roll is a thing of wonder .... It can lurk at the bottom of a rucksack for years and is always in good nick for that one 'emergency'