A pelican laptop overnight case - plenty of space and waterproof too
If there is anyone who knows a thing or two about getting wet and keeping sensitive equipment dry it is white-water kayakers and rafters. These guys get dumped under water all the time and even if they manage to stay upright are constantly drenched by spray from the surging waters on a raging river. Yet in many cases they have to keep stuff such as camera equipment bone dry. When I went down the rapids on the Zambezi river a few years back, two of the guides leading us down brought along camera equipment to shoot video footage and some still photographs of our party’s raft. They went ahead in small kayaks and shot the rapids before us, then quickly set up to get shots of us going through them.
And what did they use to keep their equipment safe? Pretty much the same thing that every serious outdoors sportsman and professional camera crew knows is the best when it comes to keeping expensive equipment safe; Pelican cases.
If you have ever looked at a Pelican case you will see just how tough they are. These things are made from really thick and heavy-duty plastic (technically they call it a resin) and they provide a level of protection that no laptop bag will ever give you. I have heard stories of people driving trucks over these cases without doing them any damage. It is not just that they are super strong that makes them so loved. More important is that they are really well engineered with great attention to detail. To stay really waterproof Pelican cases usually have an o-ring seal that runs all the way round the opening. They have special hinges that fold down flush for protection and latches that do not pop open when you drop them.
The most amazing bit comes down to how they are able to seal and be waterproof without being airtight. Just think about it. If you had a completely airtight case it would want to pop open from internal pressure if you took it up in an airplane. Worse yet, if you flew from a high altitude to a lower one the air pressure on the outside would be much higher than on the inside. A pound or so a square inch doesn’t sound like much, but multiply that over the surface area of a big case and you soon get to a force that you can not easily work against to open the case. Airplanes are similar. Even if some crazy tried to open the door in flight they would never be able to budge it against the higher pressure inside because the door has to open inwards before it opens outwards.
So what Pelican did was they gave their cases little air equalizing valves with a Gore-Tex seal. The little value lets air in or out but no water can pass through so your precious cargo stays dry as a bone.
The strange thing is that these cases have not really caught on among laptop users apart from those in specialized fields like the military or those who regularly work in hostile environments such as geologists and surveyors. But there is no reason why you should not use one of these as a waterproof laptop case on a daily basis. The Storm Laptop Case, for instance, will keep your laptop really secure. It is waterproof, dustproof, guaranteed for life and can be carried on to an airplane. These cases have foam fillings so you can drop them and they should protect your laptop from the shock. They are also lockable so unless someone walks off with the whole case, it is unlikely they will lift your laptop, especially since these cases are really difficult to break open when locked. They are also big enough that if you had an iPad you could put it, along with all of your iPad accessories, in as well as your laptop.
Another option is their hardback case. These come in sizes that will fit anything from a compact notebook all the way up to a 17 inch computer. And they are just about completely crush-proof.
If that does not give you enough space, you might look a the Pelican laptop overnight case, which is about the maximum size you are allowed to carry on a plane in a strong crushproof and waterproof box. It has wheels so you don’t have to carry it all the time, stainless steel padlock protectors so you are almost walking around with a safe and padding to keep your computer protected from bumps and shocks. If I were James Bond, this is the case I would choose.
