Posted: 10/20/2008 9:09:47 AM EDT
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Ok so last night my wife was going through the BOB/GHB packs in her car to see if things needed rotation or replacement. The packs (particularly the spare clothes and lights) get used so she checks on them periodically. Her pack had a strange problem. Most of the items inside were 'sticky'. There were no stains or stickiness on the outside, and it didn't matter which pocket in the pack she pulled an item from, odds are it was sticky. After much searching through her commercial pack we found the cause of the problem. It was the pack itself. The inside of the pack had been sprayed with some kind of waterproofing material (like a synthetic rubber) and after 10+ years of car duty it was starting to come off in the heat. Most items could be cleaned with soap, water and a bit of elbow grease. Some were discarded (they were due for rotation/replacement anyway), the rest were protected inside of ziplock bags so only the bag needed replacement. Things we learned: 1- watch out for the waterproof coatings in bags. Don't rely on them for water protection. Put your items inside plastic bags (ziplocks for small items - large garbage bags for the clothes). 2 - Check your bags periodically particularly if you keep then in a car (which can get very hot in the sun). Oh yeah I check my bag last night as well. Found the saline solution I keep in my bag for my wife's emergency Contact use expired - back in 1999. Whoops! ETA: Since her pack had gone bad my wife needed a new one. She wanted one in Green. So I gave her my BoB pack.. A Qwest Forest Green Pack with a decent waiste belt and a sternum strap (big upgrade for her). Now my GHB 'sling pack' has a bunch of items from my BOB added till I find a new BOB pack. So I'm looking for a 3 day pack in tan with a waist belt. |
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Good topic.. its hard to keep all the gear ready to go all the time without some maintenance. Almost 2 years ago there was some real bad flooding up here that caused me some real headaches as far as being able to get home, followed by some snows that did the same. So, I put together a bag of emergency gear and located it at my parents house in the cupboard under their stairs, in case I simply couldnt get home and had to go there. Fast forward to this weekend - after only a year and a half, I pulled the bag.. the clothes all have a funk to them that Im not sure I want to expose my washer to! Clothes I keep in my jeep are stored in vacuum seal bags (spacebags) and they havent had any problems like this. I even had to use the clothes from the jeep and they were ok after a year. The jeep gets all kinds of moist and wet and hot and etc.. Guess I didnt expect a dry dark cupboard to be such a problem, what a surprise. Im real glad I didnt suddenly have to depend on those clothes! 
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The problem exists with Cordura, & nylon Oxford cloth as well, unless the cloth is uncoated. I have an older Wilderness Experience backpack that is "delaminating", i.e., losing it's internal coating of waterproofing. It manifests in 2 ways (perhaps if different waterproofing agents are used), one of which is stickiness. The other is little bits of the coating itself come off. Also had this happen with 3 different bags (all of which came from Eddit Bauer, oddly enough). One was my BOB, a Cordura duffle. The first bag, EB replaced under their warranty (which, at one time, was iron-clad: if it failed/you were dissatisfied, return it for replacement or refund). The second, the Cordura duffle, was not replaced; they'd changed their warranty, & refused to stand behind their product. I didn't even try with the 3rd one...but I have made my last visit to an EB store. The only solution I've found is to keep gear in stuff sacks or baggies. This offers better organization, security for the items, and you aren't dependent on the pack or bag's waterproof coating. David |
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The only thing I worry about getting wet or nasty in my GHB is the clothes/jacket/towel/socks. Everything else is in waterproof containers, or inherently protected. Ziploc makes some big, heavy duty bags, like an oversized freezer bag. We use them to put clothes in while camping. I like them so much that I decided to line my GHB (an old alpine rucksack) with one. Mash out the air, zip her up and you're good to go. |
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Having worked in the tactical gear market I have alot of experience with the different fabrics that have been used. One of the best coatings used on Cordura was hydrothane, it does not melt nor crack and peel, some of the Cordura used a urathane coating that did melt and crack and peel. Ballistic nylon uses a semi-rubberized coating that was bad to crack and peel off. If in doubt ask what type coating was used, it should be stated on the placard on the item |