I have very occasionally washed my packs - my day pack more often than my internal framesheet backpack. Before washing my backpack I removed the framesheet, obviously.

When I washed them I filled the bathtub shallowly with lukewarm water, added small amount of dishwashing detergent, hand-agitated the pack in the water, drained the dirty water, then rinsed it repeatedly in several changes of water. To dry I hung it outdoors in the sun. I figure that if a backpack can't survive direct sunlight, it isn't much of a pack. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />