Cascade Designs' Aleutian
The Aleutian employs a YKK zipper that appears to be one step down from the heavy duty dry suit integrity of the Half Dome's version. It's not as stiff to operate, but could still use a couple of grab loops on the bag to hold on to. It passed all my tests with no leakage whatsoever.

The Aleutian is made from urethane-coated Cordura nylon, with welded seams. The bag is stiffened with a polyethylene sheet into a flattened ovoid shape that uses all of its modest 620 cubic inches efficiently. The zipper arcs over the top of the bag about three inches from the rear, so the back doesn't fold down like a flap-you have to just push down on it to access the inside. Still, it works fine, and there's a fabric flap that covers the zipper to help keep out grit. The bag is tall enough to hold my SLR camera (if I leave off the motor drive), and wide enough for a couple of extra lenses, plus a field guide and snacks-in other words, it has all the room you're likely to need. Yet at only 12 1/2 inches wide (compared to 20 for the Watershed, including the clips), it's compact enough to fit any deck.

The mounting system of the Aleutian consists of two fat Velcro strips across the bottom, which you slide under your deck bungies. It's not very stable this way; however, when I tied non-elastic nylon cord in an X between my deck fittings and fastened the strip under those, the bag didn't move around as much. It has the advantage of adapting easily to various deck layouts, but I still wish the bag had D-rings at the corners so you could make your own more rigid attachment system.The Aleutian has no frills aside from bungies and a pair of clips on top to secure your chart case or small items.

In short, the Cascade Designs Aleutian is a versatile and efficiently sized deck bag that will fit a wide variety of boats, including narrow Greenland styles.
Price: $120 | Cascade Designs, (800) 531-9531 www.cascadedesigns.com

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