[at-l] I'm Confused: was "Just Say No ... & Down Proofing

[jmayer@rochester.rr.com (Jim Mayer)]

Bill's advice agrees with my understanding of the situation.  I thought I'd
add that places like Feathered Friends will wash the down in your bag for a
quite reasonable price.  I have a feeling that works better than washing the
whole bag, but I don't have anything to back that up.

-- Jim

----- Original Message -----
From: "W F Thorneloe" <thornel@attglobal.net>
To: <champion@iquest.net>
Cc: <at-l@backcountry.net>
Sent: Friday, March 30, 2001 2:34 PM
Subject: Re: [at-l] I'm Confused: was "Just Say No ... & Down Proofing


> You are getting the conflicting information of all those who sell stuff to
> try to make down bags "better." First, I told Aloha Ann to not wash her
> bag, especially to avoid waterproofing because of how down works. Water
> runs off a duck's back because of oil in feathers, not in the down. Down
> works as an excellent insulator by puffing up and creating large empty air
> spaces. Dirty and wet down loses its loft, becomes flat, and no longer
> makes an air space. Down bags that are improperly stored in small bags are
> crushed, again losing loft and efficiency at making insulating dead air
spaces.
>
> Hence, you don't want a down bag to get wet or excessively dirty. You want
> to store it in a loose large bag.  If you waterproof a down bag, you
> prevent the vapor from your sweat and body from getting out of the bag.
The
> vapor condenses inside the bag with the down catching the runoff. You
might
> as well have left your down bag out in the rain. She has concern about
> condensation in her Nomad wetting her down sleeping bag, and thought that
> waterproofing the shell would help. Nope! I have used a loose fitting
> grocery sack over the foot of my bag when condensation has been
> particularly severe, without problems. I suspect she won't need to do even
> that, as she has a modification to her Nomad that probably will reduce
> condensation dramatically.
>
> Washing a down bag is infrequently needed. I'd suggest reviewing the
> directions of many down bag manufacturers about how infrequent, and how
one
> might use professional services or certain products. However, it is
> difficult to get the down fully lofted after such washing. I prefer to air
> out my bag frequently and avoid washing. I also avoid doing things that
> would wet it or soil it severely.
>
> But if you are determined to wash your bags, there are a number of
> products. Let the buyer beware. My thought was that she might wait to do
> any treatment on her down bag until well into the hike when she can better
> evaluate how her gear works, rather than make alterations before knowing
> she actually needs such changes.
>
> OrangeBug
>
> At 01:30 PM 3/30/2001 -0500, Stephen P. Champion, MD wrote:
> >Am I making sense?  Am I missing something?  Help me out here.
>
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