Vertx RLT 50L Duffel Bag: A Bag Built for Battle
We have a closet full of luggage, not an insubstantial portion of which is devoted to all sorts of carry-ons and boat bags. There doesn’t seem to be a perfect weekender that allows easy access to larger items, resists rips, and also doesn’t get the contents soaked in a downpour.
Still, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of the Vertx RLT 50 liter duffel bag when I got it. In a lot of different ways, it’s a “tweener” bag. You can use it as a backpack thanks to padded straps, but there are also loops that come out of the side pockets so that it can operate as a true duffel. Additionally, it has atypical dimensions – 22.5” x 13.5” x 11.5” – which technically make it too big to be a carry-on on many airlines, although I’ve flown with it nearly a dozen times and I’ve never been stopped. That may be because I’ve never filled it to the max, so it could be squished down to an acceptable size, but probably also because it’s so close. I walk on, act like I know what I’m doing, and place it either in the overhead compartment or under the seat in front of me and no one is the wiser.
While it’s typically been my carry-on in situations where I need a boat bag, the thing is absolutely cavernous. I can easily fit a long weekend’s worth of clothing inside with room to spare. Throw it in the back of a truck, in the hold of a float plane, or on top of a lancha on Guatemala’s Lake Atitlan (as I recently did) and you don’t have to worry about the contents getting dusty or wet or disheveled. It’s made to take a beating. And that’s what I really like about it. The coasted nylon ripstop and ballistic nylon seem bulletproof. Unlike less durable bags, you’re not going to puncture this one. On top of that, I’ve had it out in rough water on a bass boat and any spray (or residual dipping dye) wipes right off.
The one thing I had to get used to was the positioning of the heavy duty zippers, particularly when using the bag as a backpack (which I did most of the time). For some reason my natural inclination was to have the zippers meet on one of the 13.5” planes (rather than the longer 22.5” length), which meant that when I put the bag on my back they’d be at the bottom. Before I corrected that tendency, they never opened on me in transit, but I could’ve had a disaster if I’d been slightly less careful. The other potential downside for some people is that other than the small side compartments that hold the straps, there is just one large main compartment. If you need your gear segmented, that could be a problem, although the converse is also true – the wide opening when the flap is completely unzipped allows you to put larger items in easily and to organize them quickly. I typically used the side pockets when going through airport security as a quick stash point for my phone, wallet and other pocket ephemera.
This would be an ideal bag for an African safari, or a trip to the Amazon, because no thorns are going to penetrate it. Indeed, you could probably drag it behind a truck and have it be no worse for wear. I’ve never done much more that give it a quick wipe and mine looks exactly like it did when I first obtained it. It’s not inexpensive, but it’ll probably outlast both of us, and if you put valuables (fishing gear, cameras, range equipment) you can be pretty sure that it'll take a crossfire hurricane to do any damage. I’d rather have that than a bunch of cheap Made in China Cordura duffels, because I’m rough on my gear.
If for some reason this is not the right size for you, there’s also an 80L model, and a 100L version with an extendable handle and wheels. The construction is the same, although the larger ones are configured differently. Historically I’ve never been a fan I’ve buying bespoke luggage, but the more I feel a need to take my prized gear into rough environments, the more I look for durability at all costs and this bag has yet to let me down.
