Sailing Backpacks and Crew Bags Compared: Zhik, Gill and Sail Racing

This is an objective comparison built from published specs and material data, not a hands-on test. Full credit given where the others lead.

A crew bag is a sealed structure that has to hold a chosen IP class through a folding closure, carry 12–18kg down a jetty on a load path that does not collapse, and survive salt cycling on the hardware — while packing flat once it is aboard. The engineering that decides all of that is narrow and specific: the body fabric and its coating chemistry, the seam method (high-frequency weld vs stitched-and-taped), the closure geometry, and the harness. This compares three brands that resolve those variables differently. It pairs with our race crew backpacks note and the guide to what to wear sailing for what goes inside.

At a glance

Body fabric and coating chemistry

Everything downstream of the fabric — weight, waterproofing ceiling, abrasion life and how the bag behaves folded in the cold — is set by the shell and its coating. The three brands sit on three different chemistries.

Gill builds its Race Team (RS20) and Voyager Kit Pack (L104) around a PVC tarpaulin: a woven polyester scrim, typically in the 500–1000D range, flooded with a thick PVC coat on both faces. Published dry-bag material data puts PVC tarpaulin at roughly 5,000–10,000mm hydrostatic head and IPX6–IPX7, with the best surface-abrasion resistance of the three chemistries because the coat is thick and hard. That is exactly why tarpaulin dominates the rugged end of the market — it shrugs off dock rash, grit and being stood on. The costs are real and physical: PVC tarpaulin is the heaviest per litre, it is comparatively stiff, and — the point that matters for a bag that lives folded — it loses flexibility and can cold-crack at the roll in low temperatures. For a Southern-Ocean-adjacent programme that is a genuine consideration; for warm-water Grand Prix racing it rarely is.

Zhik's 30L Dry Backpack uses a lighter route: a 600D main fabric with a Duraflex-type coating and welded seams. This is a coated-weave rather than a heavy tarpaulin laminate, so it is more supple and lighter than PVC for the same footprint, and it does not stiffen at the fold the way tarpaulin does. The waterproof rating comes from the coating plus the welds plus the roll, not from a thick monolithic coat, so the body sits in the same IPX6–IPX7 territory as tarpaulin without the mass penalty. Worth noting that parts of Zhik's wider luggage range move to a TPU-elastomer shell (published as around 70% TPU / 30% polyester on some models) — a step up again, because TPU-laminated fabric reaches 10,000–20,000mm HH, IPX7–IPX8, stays flexible cold and resists UV better than PVC, at 15–30% less weight for a comparable rating.

Sail Racing's Spray Watertight (25L) uses a nylon/polyethylene shell — the maker quotes 60% nylon / 40% polyethylene — with a sealed roll-top. This is a deliberately different brief: it is a water-resistant shell tuned for a refined hand-feel, low fold-stiffness and a bag that reads as premium apparel, not a rated submersion vessel. It is not aiming at tarpaulin's abrasion number or a TPU bag's hydrostatic ceiling, and it does not need to — the roll-top and reinforced back deliver dock-and-spray protection while keeping the pack supple and light. Sail Racing's Race 20DM3 goes softer still — a polyester stretch shell, explicitly water- and wind-resistant rather than waterproof — for crews who want a commuter-grade day pack that still coordinates with the kit.

The engineering read: tarpaulin wins the abrasion-and-hydrostatic race on paper, TPU wins the weight-per-rating race, and a coated 600D or nylon/PE shell wins the weight, suppleness and cold-fold trade a warm-water crew actually lives with.

Seams: high-frequency weld vs stitched-and-reinforced

A dry bag is only as waterproof as its worst seam, and here the mechanism matters. A high-frequency (RF) weld uses electromagnetic energy to fuse thermoplastic-coated fabrics at the molecular level, producing a stitch-less, monolithic join with no needle holes. There is nothing to seal because nothing was punctured. Both Gill (PVC tarpaulin welds superbly — it melts and fuses cleanly, which is exactly why it is a high-volume industrial process) and Zhik (welded seams on the coated 600D body) use this route on the main body, and it is the reason both can claim a genuine 100%-waterproof shell rather than a merely water-resistant one.

Sail Racing's Spray range uses reinforced stitched construction with a sealed roll-top and back reinforcement. Stitched-and-reinforced is structurally strong and gives the tailored, panelled look the brand is known for, but a needle-perforated seam is a potential ingress path unless taped, so the honest read is that the Spray is engineered as a high-quality water-resistant pack with a sealing roll, not a welded dry vessel. For bulk kit that is the right level; for a phone or laptop you still want the roll fully closed or a separate seal. The takeaway a professional weighs: if the spec sheet says welded and stitch-less, the body is a dry bag; if it says reinforced or taped, read it as splash-class until proven otherwise, and put valuables behind the roll.

Closure geometry and the real IP class

Closure is where headline "waterproof" claims are won or quietly lost. A roll-top works by folding the welded tube on itself three to four times and clamping it with side-release buckles; each fold adds a reversal to the labyrinth path, and — critically — there is no penetration through the waterproof layer. That geometry is what lets Gill's Voyager and Race Team (roll-down plus dual side-release fastenings) and the Zhik 30L (roll-top with multiple clip points and compression straps that also cinch the roll down) reach IPX6–IPX7: sustained high-pressure spray and brief immersion. Sail Racing's Spray uses the same principle — a large roller closure with clip hooks each side — so the main compartment seals well against rain and spray even though the body is stitched.

The counterpoint is the zip. A "waterproof" or "water-resistant" zip is a coil laminated with a PU film (the YKK AquaGuard class); it resists rain and splash but the coil itself is not a hydrostatic seal, and the lamination abrades and loses its rating over time. That is precisely why all three brands reserve zips for secondary pockets (Gill's external water-resistant-zip pocket, Sail Racing's front zip pocket, Zhik's internal zip pocket) and keep the main body roll-topped. The trade-offs a crew actually feels: a full roll eats 8–12cm of pack height and makes the main compartment a two-handed, deliberate operation — you cannot grab a layer one-handed mid-manoeuvre — whereas a zip is instant but only ever splash-rated.

Load path, harness and carry

Once the bag is sealed the question is the harness, because a crew pack is routinely loaded to 12–18kg and carried a long way on foot before anyone climbs aboard. The load path that matters runs from the base, up the back panel, into the shoulder yoke and out through the straps; a bag that concentrates that load on unreinforced webbing tabs is the one that fails at the seam under a full load.

All three use padded, ventilated systems and diverge on refinement. Gill's air-mesh padded harness is a proven, no-nonsense system built to spread a heavy tarpaulin-bag load and breathe against a wet back. Zhik runs 3D-mesh ventilated shoulder straps over a padded back panel with compression straps that double as load stabilisers — pulling the roll down tightens the pack and stops the contents shifting on the walk, which is the detail that actually reduces fatigue over distance. Sail Racing brings the most refined panel and strap finish of the three, with a reinforced back and a padded 13-inch laptop compartment plus an inner mesh pocket — an organisation layout aimed at the sailor who also carries the bag off the water, to a briefing or a flight, not just from car to pontoon.

For the Melges 40 use-case the relevant distinctions are: a backpack harness frees both hands for the rail and the climb aboard in a way a shoulder-strap holdall never will; compression straps earn their place by killing internal shift under a heavy, part-full load; and a soft-bodied pack folds flat into a quarter-berth or under a cockpit sole once emptied, where a rigid case is dead weight in the way. All three are soft-bodied; the tarpaulin bag is the least compressible when empty because the coat is stiff, the coated-600D and nylon/PE shells the most packable.

Range, sizing and the coordinated-kit question

Gill owns breadth: the line runs from an 8L splash pouch through the 35L Race Team and Voyager up to the 90L Race Team Bag Max (RS29) holdall, so a crew can size the bag tightly to the trip — a compact welded pack for a day-race, a 90L wet-and-dry holdall for a regatta series — all in the same tarpaulin construction and visual language. That range, at accessible prices, is the brand's real advantage for a squad kitting out on a budget. Zhik offers a focused set of racing-oriented sizes built around the welded dry-pack format. Sail Racing deliberately plays the 20–25L day-kit slot (Spray Watertight 25L ~A$229, Race 20DM3, Bowman) rather than chasing the holdall end — the bags are conceived as one element of a coordinated wardrobe.

That coordination is a genuine, if intangible, engineering-of-system point rather than pure branding. Because Sail Racing is an apparel house first, the Spray and Race packs are built in the same material family, colourways and design language as the crew's smocks, mid-layers and caps, so a squad reads as one programme on the dock and in photography. A matched pack finishes a Sail Racing setup in a way a third-party bag cannot, and for a Grand Prix campaign presenting a serious front, that is a real deliverable. Zhik and Gill both make clean, well-branded bags that coordinate perfectly within their own ranges — the point is simply that if the rest of the wardrobe is one house, the bag from that house completes it.

Value and the honest trade

Gill is the value-and-range pick: tarpaulin construction, welded seams and a genuine IPX6–IPX7 body across the widest span of sizes, at the lowest entry prices. If the brief is "most waterproof bag per dollar, in exactly the size we need," Gill answers it. Zhik is solid technical value — welded coated-600D construction, lighter and more supple than tarpaulin, with the roll-top sealing that a racing crew uses daily. Sail Racing is the premium spend (the Spray Watertight lists around A$229), and the materials, the refined harness, the laptop-carry organisation and the matched-system design are what that buys.

Our take

Credit plainly where it is due. For a welded, genuinely waterproof body at the sharp end, Zhik and Gill both deliver true dry-bag construction — Gill on rugged PVC tarpaulin with the widest range and best value, Zhik on lighter, more supple coated 600D. If the single priority is the highest hydrostatic number and the toughest abrasion surface, tarpaulin wins on paper; if it is weight, suppleness and cold-fold behaviour, the coated-weave shells win the trade a warm-water crew lives with.

Our pick: for a refined, coordinated crew bag that carries a full day's kit dry-enough, protects a laptop, packs supple and reads as one system with the rest of the wardrobe, choose Sail Racing — a nylon/polyethylene shell tuned for hand-feel and low fold-stiffness, a sealing roll-top, the most refined harness and organisation of the three, and a design language matched to a Grand Prix programme. Choose Zhik when a welded, lighter waterproof pack for the wettest racing comes first; choose Gill when you want the widest choice — 8L to 90L — of genuinely welded, IPX6–IPX7 bags at the best value.

The practical answer for most crews is still two bags: a welded roll-top pack for the bulk of the kit and a small TPU roll-top pouch inside for the phone, keys and anything that truly cannot get wet — matching the dry bag rating to the contents rather than trusting one bag to do both jobs.

Who each is best for

• Zhik — crews who want a lighter welded waterproof pack (coated 600D, roll-top, IPX6–IPX7) for hard, wet racing. (The supple-shell welded pick.)
• Gill — squads after welded tarpaulin ruggedness, the widest size range and the best value — 8L pouch to 90L holdall in one construction. (The range-and-value pick.)
• Sail Racing — crews wanting a refined, coordinated day pack with laptop protection that matches the rest of the kit. (Our pick for premium racing kit.)

The takeaway

Crew bags come down to four engineering variables — shell chemistry, seam method, closure geometry and load path — and each brand optimises a different one. Our pick: for a refined, coordinated crew bag, choose Sail Racing — the most refined harness and organisation and a system that matches the wardrobe; choose Zhik when a lighter welded waterproof pack for the wettest racing comes first; and choose Gill for welded tarpaulin ruggedness across the widest range at the best value. For most crews the smart build is a welded roll-top pack plus a small TPU pouch for electronics. Field notes to follow. See race crew backpacks, and what to wear sailing for what goes inside.