I recently acquired a Dutch army Carinthia Observer bivy made of "Gore-Tex gas permeable laminate", and I wondered what's the best way to wash it without reducing its waterproofness? When I e-mailed Carinthia about this, they said I could wash it in 30 degree water without softener, but first they misdirected me to their sleeping bag care instructions, so I'm not confident in what that particular representative told me. I saw that someone on here mentioned in a for-sale thread (not where I got mine) washing theirs in "NikWax Tech Wash and then TX.Direct wash". Does anyone else with a Dutch army bivy - or similar - have any tips?
Washing Gore-Tex bivy?
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Goretex is a Teflon film with an awful lot of very small pores. Washing that goes with any "soap" without tensides as those residues might affect the properties of the film and the water repellent on the surface fabric (DWR). Also it should not contain any solids that might block the pores.
Depending on the use the water repellent treatment on the cover fabric might need a renewal.
Depending on the use the water repellent treatment on the cover fabric might need a renewal.
Use some NikWax Tech Wash, just follow the instructions on the bottle but it's pretty straight forward. After that I hung it out to dry and then gave it a cool tumble dry to re-activate the DWR (again this was on the instructions). If you don't have a tumble dryer, then just give it an iron (on its coolest setting) to achieve the same result.
This is what I did for my British army goretex bivvy and it worked a treat.
This is what I did for my British army goretex bivvy and it worked a treat.
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