Pick The Right Throwbag For Your Job

Sep 20, 2014

Picking the right throwbag for your job will not only make your work easier, but safer. Not every bag is meant to do every task – grab a bag to use in an application it’s not meant for, and you might be in for a nasty surprise.

While some features of the North Water Raven throwbag will be found across the entire line (75 feet of rope, a large mouth opening, mesh panels for easy drying, glo stick holders and reflective tape), that’s where the family resemblance ends. After that, you’ll find that each of the four North Water Raven bags are equipped to excel at a different purpose.

The Bro – A Throwbag Sidekick

Looking for a sidekick? We’ve got the man for the job.

These two versions of the Raven throwbag both feature a dynamic rope made out of polypropylene. Dynamic rope is cheaper than the stuff you’ll find in the Bro’s more muscular Pro siblings.

The mini version of the Bro bag features 1/4 inch dymanic poly rope, and the big version of the Bro bag features 3/8 inch dymanic poly rope. Both the small and the big bag have a total of 75 feet of rope. But why the difference in diameter? What would make you choose the Big Bro over the Mini Bro?

Mini Bro = This guy is your wingman. He can be at your side at all times, since he’s waste-belt compatible. Awesome. He is the perfect throwing tool for your creeking shananigans, and with a tensile strength of 800 lbs, he’s suitable for tethered swims.

Big Bro = Need someone looking out for you? The Big Bro is hanging around for that exact purpose. He’ll be with you in your jetboat, ready to throw when it’s cold and rainy and snaining (def. snow+rain = snain). Your buddy in the water will be pleased to see some 1,800lb tensile-strength heft flying towards him, instead of a skinny bag meant to comfort a swim-trunked scuba diver in Cancun.

The Pro

If words like portage, rappel or z-drag are in your vocabulary, you need the North Water Raven Pro.

Both of the Pro versions of the North Water Raven feature static rope made out of spectra. Most static line is stiff, but spectra is supple which means its a breeze to stuff back into the bag. A bag packed with static line is what you want if you intend to use your bag for any kind of mechanical advantage. Here’s the big kicker between dynamic and static line: Even something as simple as a vector pull can be thwarted (or get downright dangerous) with dynamic line – the poly line found inside the Bro versions of the Raven will elongate and stretch when pulled and if you try to put it through a pulley, dynamic line (like the poly in The Bro) just gets thinner – it doesn’t actually move through the system.

You’ll find 75 feet of static line in both of the Pro North Water Raven siblings. But what’s with the two diameters available?

Mini Pro = This 1/4 inch line is your personal work bag. Waist belt compatible, the Mini Pro will be at your immediate disposal when you have a wrapped or pinned boat and need to build a simple haul system. A small bag with big muscles, the rope in the Mini Pro has a tensile strength of 2,200 lbs.

Big Pro = Jetboats anyone? Bigger boat, bigger pins, bigger tools to fix the problem. The Big Pro features 3/8 inch line with a tensile strength of 4,400 lbs so you can take full advantage of the power packed into the tools you’ll want in your wrap kit so you can get your boat and your work moving again.