Washing your backpack

[SkeeterPee]

How often to you wash your backpack? I only have about 120 miles of trail use on my pack, but i try to make sure i am in shape for it by walking with it filled with rice and towels. I probalby have at least 300 miles walking around on day hikes and around town. It is starting to smell of sweat, pobably the straps especially.

From what i read, you should wash a couple times a year with warm water and mlid soap.

So how often do you wash your pack?

[Dogwood]

Bout every 300 miles or every third resupply if not sooner, usually just rinsing inside and out well.

I don't want to be hauling extra grudge wt, don't want the odors attracting wildlife and domesticated animals on trail to my pack(just the salt and trace minerals in sweat will get some critters gnawing at it), no need to get rash or any smellier from a grimy pack), no need to make my $$$ merino shirts any more funky, no need to decrease pack lifespan, and no need to impair function of the pack. Ive found all sorts of things - salts, food, bug juice, moisturizer, suntan lotions, etc can possibly impaired various pack fabrics, pack stitching, buckles, Tri Glides, zippers etc

[elray]

Power washed mine at the local self serve car wash, made a mess of me but sure cleaned up the pack, smells fresh as a daisy!

[lonehiker]

Spray your straps with Lysol periodically.

[C-shell]

We (myself, D.No and Bonbon) would wash our packs in the bathtub at hotels with a little soap (whatever was available), rinse really well, then hang them up to dry outside. This had to be done on a"zero" so they could dry totally. We started about 500 miles into the trip but then did it as often as possible. Packs, especially the straps, start smelling really bad after a while.

[Time Zone]

in my experience, hotel shampoo makes a decent substitute for laundry detergent when you need to clean something in the sink or tub.
Soapy tub soak is good, so is just rinsing off. If you have say a showerhead on a hose, that makes it easier to rinse off soapy water, or just rinse off pack to wash off the encrusted salt.

[BuckeyeBill]

I have been using this Gear AidMiraZyme Odor Eliminator. Highly concentrated, just 1/2 oz. for every twenty gallons of water. It also doesn't remove any permethrin you have previously applied.

[Harrison Bergeron]

Well, this won't work for everyone, but here in Texas lots of people have pools. When I got back from my month-long section hike a couple of years ago, I hosed off all my gear that couldn't go in the wash machine and then threw it all in the pool over night. The chlorine took care of the "stank".

[Time Zone]

... I hosed off all my gear that couldn't go in the wash machine and then threw it all in the pool over night. The chlorine took care of the "stank".

Did you also have a more lightly colored pack by morning?

[saltysack]

I damn sure wouldn't put my pack in a heavy chlorinated pool....I see what it does to my baggies....each is too own...we have a salt water pool though....


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[JansportD2]

After each section I soak mine in a very dilute bleach solution. It's a 6 year old Golite Jam, and it hasn't fallen apart yet.

[cmoulder]

Try athlete's foot liquid spray (tolnaftate). Totally amazing.

[Feral Bill]

never.....

[Dogwood]

I have been using this Gear AidMiraZyme Odor Eliminator. Highly concentrated, just 1/2 oz. for every twenty gallons of water. It also doesn't remove any permethrin you have previously applied.

I've been using McNetts Mira Zyme for sometime but never heard it didn't remove permethrin. That's good to know. How and from where did you get this info?

[cmoulder]

Try athlete's foot liquid spray (tolnaftate). Totally amazing.

never.....

It's just another chemical, for crying out loud... what do you think it would hurt by trying it??

Sheesh, why must people be total slaves to convention?...

Been using it on stanky stuff for years with no problems.

[saltysack]

Try athlete's foot liquid spray (tolnaftate). Totally amazing.

You got real problems if your pack has jock itch!


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[cmoulder]

Well if it can stop jock itch... hmmmm?

Be the first on your block to discover the magic!

Must be liquid tolnaftate or lotrimin.

[MuddyWaters]

How often to you wash your backpack?

When its really dirty or smelly.

Packs with zippers, zippers quit working in dusty arid environment in as little as a week. Needs periodic rinsing even on trail.

[Sarcasm the elf]

I give mine a proper washing once, maybe twice a year. In addition to this I also spray it down thoroughly with a garden hose after every warm weather section hike to get the sweat salts out of the shoulder straps and webbing.

According to the folks at my local outfitter, storing sweat soaked gear without washing out the salts is a bad idea as it will slowly destroy many synthetic materials.

[BuckeyeBill]

I've been using McNetts Mira Zyme for sometime but never heard it didn't remove permethrin. That's good to know. How and from where did you get this info?

Well I talked with Chris at ULA and he recommended the spray on permethrin treatment and only on the outside. I gave mine a good soaking and let it dry for about 10 days before using it. I have washed with MiraZyme several times since and watched as bugs still fall off of it, so I am using my personal research on this. I haven't had to re-treat my pack yet.