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I suspect I am not the only one whose canopy looks like this (see attached photos). The unfortunate result of the rain and the fresh dense grade in the landing area at Bridge Day was a concrete like soup mix that hasn't easily washed out of my canopy. I tried suspending the canopy and gently washing it with a hose. The water running off was gray, so I know I did some good, but when it dried, it is still filthy.

Thoughts? Jump it till it blows clean? Immerse it in the bathtub? Try washing it with the hose a second time? Quit whining?

I have consulted the owners manual ("Don't get your canopy wet" and "Spot clean small stains with soap and water" don't really seem to apply) and I have sent CR an email requesting their advice, but thought I'd post this here as I suspect there are some others out there looking at the same issue.

i have two canopies that look like that, i was just gonna jump em till they blow clean...

Congratulations, Now it looks like more like BASE gear and less like skydiving gear. When you're jumping at night no one really cares about a little dirt here or there.

 

dry it off
shake what you can from inside the nose (hang by the tail and just think of dusting off a really expensive carpet)
pack it up
2-3 sec slider down

repeat as necessary

 

dude, I take damn good care of all my gear, regardless of having bought it for resale or for personal use.

I am being 100% serious in what I said. whatever you cannot shake out (vigorously) once the canopy is hung up dry, you will only work further into the wet/moist fibers of the threads of your canopy.

hard shock (aka opening) is a going to do a lot more to loosen all the dust.

This is my honest opinion, but I more than welcome other people's advice.

and for the record, this year I only had 9 rigs.

I was much more worried about having that grit in the material than the way that it looks. I gave up on keeping clean after landing in a muddy pit when the gear was new.

I'm thinking water jump in a 5 mil wetsuit tonight . Brrrr! (Not really)

I've gotten several good responses, and Nancy from CR got back to me quickly. I'll clean again gently and try to jump the rest out.

Thanks!

As if I have anything to jump around here where I can take a 2-3 second delay without my next question being "How do I get all this blood out of my canopy?"

I think that you are right to some degree, anyway. Where I hosed the canopy off, it looks like the sand is now on both the outside AND the inside of the cells, completely permeating the fabric.

Hehe. Take it to "the tall one"!

What was her advice?

I would say a vaccum with a brush attachment is a good tool to have. I have used it on canopies before. I vote, keep it dry.

But what did she say?

A wide variety of advice, but everyone seems to agree that getting it wet again to get it clean is a poor idea.

The 2-3 sec delays work quite well...ive done 3 slider down jumps since BD and my canopy gets cleaner and cleaner every jump....just do what paul says...;)