Stinky Canoe Pack

Black_Fly · 2025-10-14T08:23:14-0400

My old waxed canvas canoe pack stinks bad. The water it sits in hasn’t always been “pure,” for sure. Anyone have some tricks for getting the stink out?

I once had a rain slicker that sat rolled on my cantle for several years. Smelled awful. Tried washing and it didn’t work.

lowangle al · 2025-10-14T09:28:45-0400

Some of my Duluths are almost 35 years old and I never noticed a stink. Maybe one guys stink is another guys aroma. I've never gotten a stink from natural fibers like I have from synthetics.

Odyssey · 2025-10-14T09:32:30-0400

Just an idea; place it in a sealed plastic bag along with some potpourri (lol), and then wait it out.
If it were me I'd use fresh pine boughs and some balsam. A healthy heaping handful of fresh evergreen inside the pack.

Tryin' · 2025-10-14T10:20:44-0400

I am intimately familiar with odors caused by prolonged exposure to biologics. If the odor is microbial, this stuff is the best I have ever found.

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MichaelMerry · 2025-10-14T10:22:35-0400

As a long distance runner and wilderness traveler, I often end up with some skunked gear. These are a few things that have worked for me.
-vinegar soak. As I understand it, the odor is created by a living organism in the fabric. This method (and some of the others) is meant to kill that organism. After, rinse thoroughly and dry in the sun if you can.
- soaking in a brine solution. I add lukewarm water to a laundry tub and throw in 1/4 cup of sea salt I have for this purpose. Rinse thoroughly and dry in the sun.
- sweatx detergent is great for finishing this up. Hand wash your pack with it.

ppine · 2025-10-14T11:23:22-0400

First put it out side for a couple of nights of freezing weather. Frost will kill some of the fungus and microbes.
I agree with MichaelMerry. Soak in vinegar or at least use a sponge with vinegar on the stained spots.
If that doesn't work, try some hydrogen peroxide.
Then hang it up outside.

Sedges · 2025-10-14T12:35:41-0400

In a utility sink or tub I completely soak in warm water with Thymox added. Thymox is a really decent botanical anti-bacterial. Scrub any stained area with a brush. Put in washer and spin the water out. Rinse several times until rinse water is clear spinning each time. You can do all the rinsing in the washer, but don't agitate. Final spinning several rounds. Dry in the sun, turning every few hours and turning inside out as well. It may take several days in the sun to dry thoroughly. Treat leather(I use Obenauf's Heavy Duty LP) and rewax if you need to.

I think the two things that make this work are the Thymox and spinning in the washer to get all the dirty water out.

Some of my canvas packs are from the 1970s.

Pseudonym · 2025-10-14T12:45:21-0400

I use this stuff to great effect for neoprene wetsuits and booties. Just add a little bit to a bucket of water and let soak.

I safely used it on a pair of “sailing” gloves (really just rubberized palm, cotton/polyester gardening gloves with the fingers cut off) and it hasn’t seemed to degrade the cotton in any way.

Once the smell is gone, it’s just a matter of letting the bag dry fully after each use to keep it at bay.

ppine · 2025-10-14T12:59:09-0400

The solution that always works is to hang your pack over a slow cedar fire.

lowangle al · 2025-10-14T13:07:39-0400

Sedges said:
In a utility sink or tub I completely soak in warm water with Thymox added. Thymox is a really decent botanical anti-bacterial. Scrub any stained area with a brush. Put in washer and spin the water out. Rinse several times until rinse water is clear spinning each time. You can do all the rinsing in the washer, but don't agitate. Final spinning several rounds. Dry in the sun, turning every few hours and turning inside out as well. It may take several days in the sun to dry thoroughly. Treat leather(I use Obenauf's Heavy Duty LP) and rewax if you need to.

I think the two things that make this work are the Thymox and spinning in the washer to get all the dirty water out.

Some of my canvas packs are from the 1970s.

This would be a good idea even if your packs don't stink. I think the dirt in the fibers would cause it to deteriorate more rapidly.

Sedges · 2025-10-14T13:49:44-0400

I have a 25yo Duluth day pack that I used constantly for work. The back would get real salty from sweat. I would do the rinse and spin pretty regularly to keep the salt from degrading the cotton canvas. It is well worth the effort. I wouldn't be able to afford a replacement these days!

jdeerfoot · 2025-10-14T19:42:54-0400

Maybe contact Frost River for their recommendation.

Simuliumvenustum · 2025-10-14T19:57:08-0400

Black_Fly said:
My old waxed canvas canoe pack stinks bad. The water it sits in hasn’t always been “pure,” for sure. Anyone have some tricks for getting the stink out?

I once had a rain slicker that sat rolled on my cantle for several years. Smelled awful. Tried washing and it didn’t work.View attachment 150204

Perhaps this canvas cleaner from Duluth Packs would help. I have not tried it.

https://www.duluthpack.com/products/duluth-pack-8oz-canvas-cleaner

Allegheny Tom · 2025-10-15T07:15:54-0400

Ozone.
I use an O3 generator to deodorize my hunting gear. O3 is widely used in industry for odor elimination.

A couple precautions though...
Do not breathe O3. Use it in an unoccupied space. I put large bulky items is contractor garbage begs and I stick the O3 hose into the bag for 5-15 minutes and fluff the bag several times to ensure the ozone gets fully dispersed in the material, pockets, etc. Then I immediately air it out.

Which brings me to the other precaution. O3 is hard on rubber and elastic. But I've had no problem if the gear or clothing is not actually stored in an ozone environment. I try to keep treatments short and then air-out the items right afterward.

O3 works great with organic odors but is hit and miss with chemical odors.

Robin · 2025-10-15T08:06:07-0400

Here’s a post by Murat V about restoring a canvas Woods Pack with TSP. He mentioned “ Don't think this would work with waxed canvas” but it was such an interesting thread about saving a canvas pack I thought I share it.
I would call Frost River for advice, but I’m throwing a big thank you out to all that responded here, very interesting.

Murat V said:
I did a restoration on an old Woods No. 200 canvas pack back in 2009. It was heavily used by an Algonquin Park kids camp and was on its last legs. Here are some pics of the original condition...

Not sure if it was the right thing to do, but I washed the bag in a garbage can using a small amount of TSP powder. The wash water was like dark coffee after it was done but it got rid of the dirt and the large oil stain. I suppose in higher concentrations TSP is a harsh detergent but the pack came out ok. After a few hours on a breezy balcony it had dried completely since canvas is so breathable. Don't think this would work with waxed canvas. Most of the leather components on the pack were removed before washing since they needed replacing anyway, but the few leather components left on the pack (the buckle anchors) on the pack survived.

Here's the after pic...

If you'd like to read the whole process, I posted all about the project in 4 parts. Here are the links: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Hope it's useful to you. Be sure to post some of your own experiences here too...we all like learning from each other.

lowangle al · 2025-10-15T09:15:42-0400

Robins post brings up an interesting question to me. Is waxed canvas more likely to smell than unwaxed. Like I said earlier, none of my unwaxed Duluths smell. I only have one waxed Frost River pack and it hasn't been used enough to get a smell.

One observation I had from a rainy trip was that my unwaxed packs dried out much quicker than the Frost River pack. It could have an affect.

Pseudonym · 2025-10-15T09:25:20-0400

lowangle al said:
Is waxed canvas more likely to smell than unwaxed.

Interesting question, @lowangle al. I think I would have said the inverse was true, that a waxed canvas would absorb less water and thereby dry faster. But now that I think of it, we're using these packs loaded and the wax might actually inhibit the flow of air and the outward drying of the pack's contents, which is one of the best features of a canvas pack.

One of my Duluth packs is vinyl lined (or some thin equivalent material) and I've often noodled on the same concern and considered removing the liner. When I have a wet garment or tarp to deal with as I head out on the water, I'm always stuffing it inside my unlined pack so that it might dry somewhat through the pack during the day.

I think that a waxed pack flap and unwaxed pack body/bottom might be a nice hybrid: with the waxed flap keeping rain from being absorbed but otherwise not excessively inhibiting the outward drying of the pack contents.

sailsman63 · 2025-10-15T10:50:40-0400

Haven't tried it, but according to the ingredient list, the Duluth pack cleaner is just an enzyme cleaner with some fancy labeling. You can get such in the laundry aisle at your local big-box.

Stinky Canoe Pack

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