My tent is usually wet in the morning from dew. I just put the damp tent in the front right pannier. And I put other stuff in that pannier that I do not mind if it gets damp from the tent. For the several hours that the damp tent is packed, nothing bad happens to it. But I am putting the tent up every night, if I stay indoors somewhere for a night the tent gets pulled out of the bag.
The Ortlieb Front Roller and Back Roller panniers have a strap that goes over the top of the pannier. Sometimes I put damp clothing in a mesh bag and strap it to the top of the front pannier. I also often store my rain gear under that strap so the rain gear is handy at all times. But that only works on the roller panniers, others lack that strap.
I have both Orlieb roller panniers and the Carradry panniers. The Ortliebs I think will last longer, as they have thicker material. But Ortliebs are heavier. I bought my Ortliebs in 2008 and 2010. Although the Carradry use a thinner material, they should still hold up well for an occasional bike tour. But, if you were going to use the panniers for every day commuting for decades, buy the Ortliebs.
About five years ago, bought the rear Carradry for a specific trip where I would need more capacity, the rear Carradry are bigger. To make a long story short, that trip did not happen. But after that, every year I wondered which panniers to use. Finally last summer, I used the rear Carradry panniers for a five week trip. They worked fine. But, there were some sewn thru seams on the Carradry that leaked, for example where the Carradry patch was sewn onto the pannier.
The Carradry rear pannier lower hook would not work with my Tubus Logo rear rack. I instead made a new lower hook out of aluminum bar (3/4 X 1/8 inch) and stretched some inner tube rubber over that, that was the only way I could get the Carradry panniers to work with that rack. First photo. The Ortliebs I think are better for working with a variety of racks.
I do not recall what the claimed Carradry volume was, but I think they are close to about 52 liters for the rear pair which is less than they claimed. Ortlieb back rollers I think are accurate at 40 liters.
Carradry below in back, some garage sale cheap ones on front. I could have used the Ortlieb front rollers on front, but instead I used some other cheap panniers on the front with my rear Carradry in back since the gray and gray seemed to make sense. When I got home from the trip where the photo below was taken, I sealed up the seams on the inside where there were sewn thru seams like behind the Carradry patch. They should be dry next time.
Different trip, Ortlieb Rollers below: The Ortlieb 31 liter Rack Pack on top of the Back Rollers, they are designed to easily clip on together. I mentioned above that when I use my Ortliebs I often strap rain gear or damp clothes on top of the Front Roller, my rain pants are strapped on the front right pannier in the photo below, you can't see it well in that photo but my red rain jacket is strapped on top of the left side front pannier.
In the future, I will decide from one trip to the next which panniers to use on each trip. The Ortliebs are a bit heavier, a bit smaller and a bit more waterproof.
I also bought the Carradry front panniers, but all the straps were too short which made them difficult to use. Happy Feet who commented above on his Carradry bought his panniers more recently and they apparantly used enough strap material on his, so that suggests they improved them after I bought mine.
My Ortliebs have an older style set of hooks that they no longer use. But I think the newer Ortliebs also automatically open the latch on the hooks when you lift on the strap handle to lift the panniers off the rack. That is one thing I like about the Ortliebs, but the Carrady upper hooks support the bag adequately too.
Mesh bag (black with yellow zipper) with damp clothes strapped on top of the blue drybag on top of the rear rack below.
