I was out for a hike last week, standing on the precipice of an outstanding overlook when an updraft hit me in the face. Jesus God, what is that smell?! It wasn't my down jacket; its practically new. I had a shower the night before so it wasn't me. A bit of sniffing around and I discovered it was my packstraps. It seems that sweaty summer hiking has left an impressive stench. How can I clean the straps and eradicate the stench without having to launder the whole bag? I have a feeling the silnylon and washing machines are bad combinations. And no the straps are not detatchable (curses!).

I fill the bathtub with slightly warm water and Ivory Soap, do a little soaking (the pack) and alot of squeezing (the pack). Be gentle and rinse well. I have a screened in porch and that's perfect for drying. Just find a well ventilated area and make sure everything is open on the pack. A fan helps drying. You really want this to dry in a day and not much more. You don't want mildew (if you think it smells now).

I'm sure there are other methods, but I'm kinda "old school" and this works.

hand washing is the only way to go. are the straps sil, because i thought that would make them sweat proof?

Naw, the straps are a tight mesh-covered foam and they soak up a fair amount of sweat!

The McNett corporation makes a product called MiraZyme that I've used to get the stink out of a lot of gear. You can get a 2 oz bottle from many outfitters for around $4.(If you're having a hard time finding it locally, REI.com usually has it) This stuff rocks! For overall cleaning, it's best to fill a bathtub with some warm water and add the product. Fully submerge the item for about 5 min-10 min and then remove and let air dry. For tough "smells", you can always pour directly onto the straps from the bottle. I had to use this approach this summer when my Lab decided to pee on a tent I had airing out in the back yard. He managed to fully saturate the webbing with the grommets. I ended up having to use two bottles of Mirazyme, but it came out.

If you use the bathtub approach go easy on the soap. I over did the soap on one of my day packs and every time it rained I could see white soap suds on my black rain jacket.

The MiraZyme is a miracle! I have two teenage boys that play ice hockey twice a week on very competitive teams. Their pads get unbelievably funcky, especially after traveling to a tournament where several games are played over the course of a long weekend. Being boys, of course they leave all their wet gear inside their waterproof gear bags the whole time they are not playing, without washing anything!

I put the gear in a utility sink with MiraZyme for 20 minutes, air dry, and they come out with no smell at all!!!

This also works great for jackets, gloves, etc. used for kayaking expeditions.

>"The MiraZyme is a miracle!"

Hmmm... wonder what it would do for a really funky pair of hiking boots?

I mirazyme my packs in a tub of water. It works OK. My really stinky pack (ULA Catalyst) is only marginally bad after a dunk in the stuff. I think it's the best stuff though, I worked for a rental company that used it to dunk disgusting rental wetsuits.

I noticed the stinky strap (and back panel) one day when I set my pack down and the bugs were hovering around it. I rinse the straps and back panel when I get home and it's been a sweaty hike.

Getting body oils and salts out of your gear will extend their life. My Tilley hat gets a rinse when I get home from a hot weather hike too.

When I clean any pack gear, I hand wash it in my laundry tub using diluted (premixed)laundry soap and lukewarm water. My laundry tub setup has a sprayer which really helps rinsing. I try to minimize the wet time and never soak the gear. I think that is one of the things that cause delamination with PU coated pack cloth. I always air dry out of the sun, again avoiding delamination and UV damage. Never use heat to dry coated pack fabrics or hot water to wash them.

Edited by dwambaugh on 11/23/2007 03:24:53 MST.