Quick Answer: Pack camping gear into two dry bags, not one — a large 50-55L main bag for sleeping gear, clothes, and food, plus a smaller 20-30L bag for on-water essentials, which is the split Paddling Magazine’s SUP-camping guide recommends to keep a full kit under about 40 lb. Choose a board at least 12.5’ long and 30” wide with front and rear deck rigging — the Red Paddle Co Voyager (rated to 330 lb, already our pick for loaded touring in the touring paddle board guide) is purpose-built for exactly this. Load heavier items near the center carry handle so the board doesn’t trim nose- or tail-heavy, and test the load in shin-deep water before you paddle off.
An inflatable SUP can absolutely double as a mini cargo boat for an overnight or weekend trip — but only if you pack it differently than a day paddle. Here’s how much board and how much bag you actually need, and how to load it so it still tracks straight once you’re a mile from the put-in.
The two-bag system
| Bag | Capacity | What goes in it | Deck position | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Earth Pak Original Dry Bag Backpack | 55L | Sleeping bag, pad, clothes, camp kitchen, food | Bungeed flat to the rear or front deck | $47.99 |
| SealLine Discovery Deck (see our dry bag guide) | 20L | Snacks, layer, first-aid kit, phone, keys | Lashed to D-rings near your feet | $50 |
1. Size up your main bag — a day-paddle dry bag is too small
Earth Pak Original Dry Bag Backpack (55L)
- 55L capacity confirmed direct on earthpak.com — sized for a sleeping bag, pad, spare clothes, and a camp kitchen setup, not just a phone and a jacket.
- Ships with a padded waist belt at this size specifically to take weight off your shoulders on the carry from car to water, per Earth Pak's own product listing.
- Same roll-top waterproof closure as Earth Pak's smaller Original dry bag, already our budget pick for on-water use in the best paddle board dry bag guide — this is the larger sibling built for hauling, not deck-mounting mid-paddle.
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Paddling Magazine’s SUP-camping guide is specific about this: aim for a total kit under about 40 lb, split between a 50-liter main bag and a medium 20-30L bag for on-water essentials. The 20L dry bags most paddlers already own — including the SealLine Discovery Deck and Earth Pak’s own smaller Original bag, both reviewed in our dry bag guide — are built for a day paddle’s worth of gear, not a sleeping bag and a camp stove. Sizing up to something like Earth Pak’s 55L Original Backpack, confirmed at $47.99 direct from Earth Pak with a waist belt specifically added at that size for heavier loads, is the difference between one trip and two carries.
Buy it if: you’re packing an overnight or multi-day trip and your current dry bag is sized for a phone and a towel, not a sleeping bag.
2. Board length and width actually matter once you’re loaded
A board sized for a day paddle can feel noticeably different once 30-40 lb of gear is strapped down. Per Paddling Magazine’s SUP-camping guide, boards best suited to camping trips run 12.5 feet or longer and at least 30 inches wide — the extra length adds buoyancy and usable deck space for bungee points, and the width keeps the board stable once your balance point has shifted with the load. Our touring paddle board guide already covers the site’s pick for this exact use case: the Red Paddle Co Voyager (12’ x 28”, rated to 330 lb, ships with a camera mount and a 2+1 fin setup) is built around cargo capacity rather than pure speed, with front and rear rigging specifically for strapped-down gear. A pure speed-focused touring board can out-pace it on a day trip, but has less usable deck space once you’re hauling camp gear instead of just a water bottle.
3. Weight distribution — don’t trim the board nose- or tail-heavy
Load heavier items close to the center carry handle rather than out at the nose or tail, and split the rest of your gear evenly between the bow and stern tie-down points. A board that’s nose-heavy pushes water and drags; one that’s tail-heavy makes the nose wander and is harder to track straight. Do your final load-out in shin-deep water at the put-in rather than on dry land — you can see and feel exactly how the board sits, and shifting a bag six inches is a two-second fix at that point instead of an annoying mid-paddle adjustment.
Camping-trip packing checklist
- Sleeping system — sleeping bag, pad, and a lightweight shelter, packed in the 50-55L main bag
- Camp kitchen — stove, fuel, and enough food for the trip, same main bag
- Spare clothes — at minimum one dry layer and socks, even on a warm-weather trip
- On-water bag — first-aid kit, snacks, phone, keys, and a headlamp, in the smaller 20-30L bag near your feet
- Repair kit — a patch kit for the board itself; see our paddle board repair kit picks
- Anchor — useful for a lunch stop or overnight beach camp without dragging the board fully ashore; see our paddle board anchor guide
By the numbers
- 40 lb — the target total kit weight for a multi-day SUP camping trip, per Paddling Magazine’s SUP-camping guide.
- 50L + 20-30L — the recommended two-bag split: one large main bag, one medium on-water bag.
- 12.5’ / 30” — the minimum board length and width Paddling Magazine recommends for camping trips.
- 330 lb — the Red Paddle Co Voyager’s rated capacity for a loaded rider plus gear, the site’s pick for this use case.
- $47.99 — the Earth Pak Original Dry Bag Backpack in the 55L size, confirmed direct from earthpak.com.
The bottom line
Paddle board camping works with gear you likely already half-own — the main change is sizing up your main dry bag past the 20L day-paddle size, picking a board with real length, width, and rigging instead of a short all-arounder, and taking two extra minutes at the put-in to balance the load before you leave the shallows. Get those three things right and an inflatable SUP hauls an overnight kit about as easily as a canoe, with none of the roof-rack hassle getting it there. See our touring paddle board guide if you don’t already own a board built for this.