Cantoral 1 #1 September 22, 2015 I have a rig that the owner says that he only made two jumps with it but looks like he would have made 30 jumps I have never been in The Burning Man so I don't know what is the environment during packing/jumping/landing. Do I need to take special care with the main or reserve/container or just wipe the main and the container with a wet clean towel? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MrShave 0 #2 September 22, 2015 I would believe it. Burning Man is a harsh environment for everything. The dust there is an alkaline talcum like powder, and its pretty brutal. People use vinegar to neutralize the alkaline (base vs acid chemistry) when washing hands, pots, pans etc... But I'm not sure what that would do to a rig. This year BM was incredibly dusty (dust storms pretty much every day from noon to 6pm). The packing area at Burning Sky (the camp that hosts the airplane) is pretty much out in the open (under shade cloth though, so at least there is some UV protection), so dust would have gotten all up in everything. Literally everything... Deep in the seems on the rig, ripcord channels, leg strap/back pads... heck, I wouldnt be surprised if you found it in the reserve freebag on a rig that never had a cutaway there... With how much trouble I have cleaning my clothes after burning man, I would never bring a rig I didn't care about there (hell, I wouldn't bring anything there that would break my heart if it got destroyed). Cleaning the rig itself should be pretty straight forward (soak it, rinse it, soak it again), but I have no idea what you would do about the parachutes (or AAD if they had one installed)... Hope that helps... And as a disclaimer, I've been to burning man 3 times, but I've never skydived there (the winds scare the crap outta me...) I'm also not a rigger, so take that for what its worth. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lyosha 46 #3 September 23, 2015 Oh come on, it's not THAT bad if you take care of your shit. There are people there that have gone many times and their rigs still look brand friggin new. And there are those that don't want to bother and just get an alternate BM rig... Washing with Woolite works well I'm told. Clean out the cable housings as well. Change out the closing loop if you feel anal - it absorbs some of the sand as well. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JWest 0 #4 September 23, 2015 Put it in a mesh bag and then in the washing machine (front load only) on a very gentle cycle. A little woolite is good. Clean my container up real nice. Honestly, I would do the same thing to the canopy after making sure that the lines were really secure. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hackish 8 #5 September 23, 2015 It's not a bad idea to start with a good working over with your shopvac. I used a steam cleaner with an upholstery attachment with some good results too. Instead of the harsh carpet chemicals I just put laundry detergent in it. -Michael Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 2,380 #6 September 23, 2015 >Do I need to take special care with the main or reserve/container or just wipe >the main and the container with a wet clean towel? Wiping with a wet clean towel will turn the dust into a gooey sticky mass that is even harder to remove. I'd do the best I could to keep it off the playa itself and then clean it when I left. (Of course you can't do that with your main, so that's going to get dusty.) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
riggerrob 558 #7 September 23, 2015 Backing BillVon and Hakish .... stand with a vacuum cleaner to remove the first layer of desert dust. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
