I was given a nice portage pack, however it smells like vomit.  Washed with no luck.  Any suggestions as to how to get the smell out?  I have been told soaking in a vinegar and water solution may do it, but I am afraid of damaging the pack.

Quite a few years ago, I had some ponchos that were like that.  Did not use them except for camping, hiking, and such.  They were a nylon or nylon-like material, and the underside had a kind of lightweight plastic bonded to the nylon.  Nice hood, nice heavy grommets around the perimeter, heavy-duty snaps held front and back to each other, and the back was generous so you could put it over your pack and still have it go down far enough to cover to about the knees or so.  And when you unsnapped it, it was a nice rectangular fairly large tarp--with a hood in the middle.  My wife and I each had one and we had three shorter ones for my kids that got down to my 4-year-old's ankles.  They were quite nice, so I couldn't bear getting rid of them.  The good news is my 4-year-old is in his 40's now and seems an intelligent young man--so his poncho did not kill him or mess up his brains.
  Problem was that vomit smell.  Couldn't take them to baseball or football games, because folks around me wouldn't take to that.  If I rolled them up tight and stored them in the boxes that held tents, sleeping bags, and other outdoor gear, then everything in that same storage box picked up that smell; if I hung them over a hangar in a closet, then whatever hung next to them picked up that smell.  And it was bad enough that when we took them backpacking, the kids wouldn't want to wear them unless the rain was coming down pretty hard; they would rather get wet than wear that smell.
  The smell never really went away.  Washed them in the clothes washer, tried normal, mild cleaners and such.  Mostly I rolled them up and stored them in cardboard boxes with stuff that wouldn't be affected, like nested cook sets and such.  Then before I was to take them on an outing, I washed them with dishwashing soap and a sponge and rinsed well.  Then I exposed them to the breeze and sun outside, spread wide open, like over some lawn chairs.  That alleviated the problem but, get this, it never got rid of the smell completely.  After a few days rolled up in a pack, the smell came back, especially if you put them in the top part of the pack that got heated most by the sun.
  I should have thrown them away and got something better, but I was too cheap in those days to throw away "a perfectly good poncho."  Who knows, I might have caused the problem myself by trying to wash with vinegar or with bleach or something.  So I'd say, if you got a decent job, give your pack away and get something you would be 100% happy with.  Otherwise, see if there is a contents label identifying the type of plastic-like coating, and go on-line for suggestions about cleaning.  Take it to an old-time camping retailer with a mom-and-pop owner who is an opinionated know-it-all, and see what he or she remembers about this sort of stuff.  Then go ahead and either give it away as is or get aggressive with it, because otherwise you are never going to be happy.  On the off-chance that there is some sort of micro-organism associated with this and it's not just the plastic material, I'd also try soaking it in something that will kill them critters--I don't think I ever tried that route.

Go nuts with baking soda.  Let it sit a few days.  Then wash it out.

Or try the pet store for stain/odour remover.  It's enzymatic!

Preacher wrote on Apr 15^th, 2011 at 6:11pm:

We've had pretty good luck with a product called OUT.

dd

If the odor is off-gassing from one of the components of the pack construction you are SOL. It will always come back. You may be able to mask it somehow with a stronger less unpleasant odor.
I have a 40 year old set of Craftsman tools that has screwdrivers with plastic handles that off-gas a puke smell. I've learned to live with it and sometimes even entertain friends with it when I open my tool box on a hot day.

Pee on it and hang it in the sun.  Worked for a pair of shoes I had.  Some of the best lessons are learned by accident.  Literally.

db wrote on Apr 16^th, 2011 at 3:19pm:


Dual purpose,  helps preserve the spawn bags too.

Urine decomposes to ammonia when exposed to air - I'd guess that ammonia is the odor-removing compound in your technique.

But urine decomposition usually produces a number of other by-products, some of which have their own unpleasant odor. You may have noticed this (if not, your wife probably has).

BARF bag, BARF pack what did expect for free, smells like a great deal
and I don't think I would try the piss test neither!
Happy camping

//Windsailor

I believe when we smell that sour "vomit" smell what we are picking up is acidic in some form or another. Why not try several boxes of baking soda and water, seal it in a plastic bag and set it in the sun. Shake whenever you remember to. Leave it for a week.
I don't remember if anyone asked but you have checked to see it isn't actual remains of someones urp, Right?
Best Wishes, Rob

Try some Hydrogen Peroxide, it takes the smell out of just about anything.  It took fish oil out of the carpet, it should work.

I'd try the simpleist remedy first - I'd just hang the pack out in the sun and air for a couple of weeks, at least

the sun should either break down the smell, or at least accelerate the cause, I'd think - nothing to lose