Bushwalk Australia

Hi everyone,
My down sleeping bag (and puffy jacket) are in desperate need of a good wash! I don't trust myself to do it myself, is there anyone who could kindly recommend someone in Canberra to do a professional wash? Thanks heaps!

It's a simple and easy job to DIY if you have a bath and a plastic laundry basket but winter is not the right time to be washing down goods.

Agree that now is not the time for it. The jacket would be easier than the bag simply because there is less of it, so do that one first.

My washing machine has a 'hand wash' program ... uses some 90 litres of water. Not tried it yet... I'll be trying it on an old synthetic bag first when the weather warms up and the chance of rain recedes.

Hi everyone,
My down sleeping bag (and puffy jacket) are in desperate need of a good wash! I don't trust myself to do it myself, is there anyone who could kindly recommend someone in Canberra to do a professional wash? Thanks heaps!

Have you contacted the big outdoor places in Canberra? There is someone there that does it I've been led to believe.

Other than that-'Remote Repairs' in Victoria.

Maybe give Mont in Fyshwick a call. They might be able to recommend someone.

I just had One Planet in Melbourne wash mine. They do all branded bags not just there own.
The price includes the return postage so you have to pay to get it to them.
I was happy with the result

Ainslie Laundrette specialise in washing down. They are the people Mont recommend.

I’ve had a a few jackets and quilts washed there over the years and the outcome has always been really good and the price pretty fair imo.

All the info on washing down items says you have to be super careful, use special stuff, dry with a tennis ball, etc.

BUT........

I wash my sleeping bag with ordinary washing powder, in a big front loader washing machine (2 x load) at the laundrette, costs $8, takes 30min. I should probably use proper down wash stuff from the bushwalking shop, but my bag seems just fine. I'd handwashed an old down jacket with Omo and it came up fine, then I did a double doona at the laundrette and it was great, so I took a chance with my good sleeping bag (700g down 700 loft with lightweight shell) and it seems just fine, fluffy, warm, down dispersed around, and smells so much better now.

Then I pop it the dryer at the laundrette. After an hour ($12) it's dry, or if I can't wait that long I give it 20min and take it home and hang it in a warm living area for 2-3 days. In summer I don't use the dryer at all, just hang it on the line for a day.
I don't use a tennis ball in the dryer like some say, but despite this the down naturally unclumps as it dries and I give it a bit of a shake. I figure a tennis ball just rubs against the shell and squishes the feathers, neither of which seems a good idea to me.

I've tried washing a doona in the bath tub. Geez, what a palaver, for a pretty poor result. I got soaked, water all over the floor, and the doona didn't really come up all that clean, still smelt a bit of old socks, mixed in with eau de beans-for-dinner.

Has anyone tried the above methods and got a bad result? Or wrecked their down item with an alternative wash method?

myrtlegirl wrote:All the info on washing down items says you have to be super careful, use special stuff, dry with a tennis ball, etc.

BUT........

I wash my sleeping bag with ordinary washing powder, in a big front loader washing machine (2 x load) at the laundrette, costs $8, takes 30min. I should probably use proper down wash stuff from the bushwalking shop, but my bag seems just fine. I'd handwashed an old down jacket with Omo and it came up fine, then I did a double doona at the laundrette and it was great, so I took a chance with my good sleeping bag (700g down 700 loft with lightweight shell) and it seems just fine, fluffy, warm, down dispersed around, and smells so much better now.

Then I pop it the dryer at the laundrette. After an hour ($12) it's dry, or if I can't wait that long I give it 20min and take it home and hang it in a warm living area for 2-3 days. In summer I don't use the dryer at all, just hang it on the line for a day.
I don't use a tennis ball in the dryer like some say, but despite this the down naturally unclumps as it dries and I give it a bit of a shake. I figure a tennis ball just rubs against the shell and squishes the feathers, neither of which seems a good idea to me.

I've tried washing a doona in the bath tub. Geez, what a palaver, for a pretty poor result. I got soaked, water all over the floor, and the doona didn't really come up all that clean, still smelt a bit of old socks, mixed in with eau de beans-for-dinner.

Has anyone tried the above methods and got a bad result? Or wrecked their down item with an alternative wash method?

X2 - dont over think it

X3. Many recent down bags have a water repellent treatment applied to the down, and as a result the bag doesn't absorb very much water.

I washed mine, with down detergent bought from an outdoor shop, in my front-loader washing machine (never put a sleeping bad in a machine with an agitator). I used the "delicate" cycle and the fast spin. The bag dried overnight, hung up in a warm room, and lofts as much as ever.

x4

It was scary the first time but it's just washing something a touch delicate. You just wash it with a touch more care

Decades ago, I washed my first down sleeping bag, doing all the right things. It was never the same again. Never washed one since - just inner sheets.

I do the front loader on a delicate cycle with down detergent and into the tumble dryer with some tennis balls. My sleeping bag is translucent with 10d fabric and never had an issue. I've got lots of down gear that I was this way.

Sent from my LE2115 using Tapatalk

I was looking for this old (1981) book and this advice by the author. At last it's found. Don't rush to wash your bag he says. The previous word prior to this column is "over" , so again, the suggestion is that any washing is life reducing.

I did believe that myself until I had to wash an old bag to remove some noxious residues when I stupidly loaned a bag to somebody.
Once you know how down is washed at the factories you stop believing that pretty quickly.
Perhaps Mike Marriots opinion was formed due to the notoriously damp and soggy English summers and the lack of large tumble dryers to fully fluff up a bag after washing and air drying and partly the fact that treated down didn't exist and untreated down takes longer to dry than wet woollens.
Down needs to be washed before it can be used as a filling, washing it removes a lot of the natural oils that make it waterproof but it also removes the dirt and most of the stink.
Also you have to know that when that book was published the very best down available [ unless you were a multi millionaire and could afford Eider-down] was around 550 to 600 FP, which these days is considered only suitable for budget warm wear like Macpacs Halo.
If you are going to wash a modern down bag it pays to also use Nikwax IMO, it only adds one cycle to the rinse process and it does make the bag more resistant to damp conditions

I agree, he's writing 40 years ago when people hung on to stuff because good gear was expensive. When I started walking people talked about the boots they'd had for many years. These days upgrading is the go and lightweight materials from housing to camping are the norm. I washed what may have been an early NATO sleepng bag when packed around Europe during the late 70's. It may have been packed with something like shredded rags.

But I simply add this piece as an interesting aside for anyone who wonders if washing one's bag is good practice. I've never washed my Bushlight Super bought in '99 - always 2kg with tiny escapes now and then. The liner's the thing with silk the best and easily washed and v.quick drying. Best priced Kathmandu, still?

People are going for bags around 1kg and putting gear on for cold nights, for better or worse results. My bag's a little dark around the entrance but that canbe wiped away during summer.

Beating the weather with a life-saving ciggy.