Fishing
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You've invested your money in a good sleeping bag, now you need to know how to take care of it. Proper care will ensure that you have it for many years to come. After a few camping trips in the wild, your bag will probably be ready for a cleaning. There are several ways to do this.
Sleeping Bag Care & Cleaning Instructions
Down Bags (feathers)
Your best bet and the easiest way to clean a down sleeping bag is to send it to a professional dry cleaner. However, you do not want them to dry clean it. In fact, a dry cleaner experienced in cleaning down products will launder the bag rather than dry clean it. Dry cleaning solvents can harm the feathers that keep the bag soft by stripping them of their natural oils.
You can also clean the sleeping bag at home, but you must take some precautions so as not to ruin the bag.
First of all, make sure to zip the bag up and close any velco tabs or other fasteners. You can wash it in warm water in a large tub using mild soap such as Woolite. You should never use harsh detergents, fabric softeners or bleach.
If you choose to machine wash the sleeping bag, do not wash it in an agitator type of machine (top loading). This could be harmful to the materials in the bag, the insulation, as well as the shell of the bag. Instead, use one of the front loading machines that do not have the agitator.
After washing, it is very important to rinse the bag well in clean water to make sure all the soap in the feathers has been removed. After a good rinsing, you can hang the bag up to drip dry or put it in a dryer. Tumble dry it with very low or even no heat on. This will of course take longer, maybe several hours, but it is better for the materials. Check it often.
TIP: Throwing a few tennis balls in with it will fluff the bag up again.
Synthetic Bags
For synthetic sleeping bags, the instructions are the same except that you want to hang the unzipped bag up to drip dry. You can put it in the dryer to fluff it up (fluff cycle), but you should never use any heat on it.
Storage
Don't squish the bag down in a rolled up position if you are going to store it for awhile. This causes the bag to flatten and stay that way, rather than have that fluffy feel. Either roll it very loosely or hang it up. Don't store it in a plastic bag because it can get moldy, grow bacteria and smell bad after awhile.
Above all, always follow the instructions of the sleeping bag manufacturer for best results for the bag. Put the bag to use in the woods often for best results for you.
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By Bobby Ivie
Bobby Ivie is an avid fishman and owner of Fishing-Hunting-Camping.com and Fishing-Articles.net He makes his living online by building Virtual Real Estate
This article may be reprinted as long as this source box is added and the source box hyperlinks are kept intact.
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