UKC

It's covered in sh*t and smells! Is it ok to machine wash or would this damage it?

Cheers
Simon

In reply to Simon1000:
Look. If you cant use it till it is washed wash it. If anything goes wrong you have lost nothing and if it smells sweet you dont have to buy a new one.

Use a low temperature wash, it will do less potential damage.

In reply to Simon1000:

Try washing in clean warm water first, it'll shift most dirt (including actual shit). I rinse mine under the shower if things spill in it when I go shopping. If that doesn't shift it, bung it in a low temp wash with a normal washing powder. The only bad thing that's likely to happen is that you'll bind detergent to the fabric, buggering any waterproofing - not a great problem, and possible to fix by using a soap-based cleaner such as Nikwax or Grangers washing products, or even Lux flakes. Re-proof with Fabsil or equivalent, since you're not concerned about breathability.

In reply to Simon1000: or if too lazy to hand wash run a high temp wash cycle with the machine empty to clean out any soap, conditioner etc then do a wash with the bag in - on the lowest temp, delicate, no spin cycle. Then waterproof. If this doesn't work then sod it and go for the soap option.

In reply to Simon1000:

I had exactly this problem - I left a carton of milk in my sac, which leaked, and stayed unused for two months.

when I picked up the sac i got an overwhelming sense of "Milky Milky!"

what I did was strip out the frame, bung it in the gentlest wash the machine did - and it came out fine (had to repeat this as it still was milky).

It souldn't affect the waterproofing, but there's no such thing as a waterproof sac anyway right?

tip: make sure that you reinsert the frame the right way round!

In reply to Simon1000:

scrubbing brush + hand wash liquid = top result, on bergans that I can almost guarantee were far smellier than yours