RE: [Paddlewise] How to clean tents and sleeping bags?

For both tents and sleepingbags I advise to clean them as little as
possible. I send my sleepingbag to the dry cleaners about once a year, when
it really starts disgusting me when I enter it.

I had to clean my tent this year. During my 3-week vacation I used it only
twice and packed it while still wet. It stayed in the car for two weeks
after that. When I got home and hang it out to dry, the smell was so
horrible that I took in down immediately and put it in a bathtub with soap.
It is clean now, but leaking on all the seams. It seems the seams used to be
water-repellent and don't like soap. I'll have to seal all the seams now.

So, don't clean your tent. After a couple of years it will be full of
memories: Patches of mud, blood, food and squashed bugs that just add to the
romantic feeling of camping.

Niels.
***************************************************************************
PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed
here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire
responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author.
Submissions:     PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net
Subscriptions:   PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net
Website:         http://www.paddlewise.net/
***************************************************************************