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Solution Discovered for the USED Wag Bag Smell

This article originally appeared in the July 2008 issue.

(No - we are not selling used Wag Bags - these are after they are used by the customer)

By Steve Morrell

I had some reader feedback from a boater who bought Wag Bags and took them on a short cruise. On her return, she told me that the smell from a used bag was so horrendous that it was impossible to keep it on board. I asked others about this and many said they take them ashore as soon as convenient and leave them on deck until they can do so. On deck, the smell is not an issue. I didn’t really like this as a solution since the idea of leaving a bag of shit on the deck that could be stepped on didn’t sound very appealing to me.

     I therefore decided to search for odor-proof bags. I found some, called O. P. Saks, and did a test—with THREE solid waste loads in it (I wanted this to be a real test)—along with some liquid waste. These bags have a Ziploc-like closure on them. I placed the used bag in a bathroom with a closed door and sealed the door edges shut to keep an air exchange from occurring. Periodically, I would cautiously open the door and stick my nose in there—hoping that I am not permanently installing a bad odor in that room. I never once had even the slightest odor coming from the bag to indicate that it was human waste. I continued this for one week to make sure, and can confidently report that these bags DEFINITELY WORK.

     These bags, which are more commonly used to contain food odors in the wild to keep wild animals, like bears, from smelling the food in them and going hungrily through your belongings. They were also designed to contain and control odor from human waste. I read complaints that these bags could tear or the Ziploc-like closure would open—a real problem no matter what the contents, but really important if human waste is in them. Personally, I have always found Ziplocs do come open if you move them around too much—they aren’t designed for that. In one complaint, a writer had noted that he used a device called a Clip-n-Seal to seal the bags shut. I consequently purchased some of these and used them in the test. They are very well made and worked extremely well. I just suggest you close up the O. P. Sak after removing the Wag Bag as fast as possible, because the inside after use is very bad.

     My final conclusion and advice is to purchase the O.P. Sak in size 12.5” x 20” and also purchase a 14-inch-long Clip-n-Seal to seal it with. Several used Wag Bags can be placed in these O.P. Saks and they can be reused many times to offset the expense. I would place the Saks with the Wag Bags in them in another bag or solid container to protect them and we now have a working system to store and contain the smell from used Wag Bags.

     These O.P. Saks are good enough, with just their own Ziploc-like closure, to be waterproof up to a couple hundred feet, so they could be very useful to use as a dry bag to move things ashore—or use it to keep your sandwich dry when you go diving and want to eat on the bottom. I suggest that one use the Clip-n-Seal with it, though. You can purchase O. P. Saks at www.opsak.com (800-355-1126), and Clip-n-Seal at www.clip-n-seal.com (206-399-7036). (Southwinds will possibly be selling these along with the Wag Bags in the future.)

     You can also use these bags when you go backpacking in bear country. I am also hoping that someone will make an O.P. Sak big enough to stick a holding tank into, because they work a lot better than all the holding tanks I’ve been around.

 

Note: Since writing this article, I have thought about another good way to store the Wag Bags that will probably work. Buy a short piece of PVC, like 4" by couple feet, or whatever size is convenient. Buy two end caps and glue one end on. The other end will fit snugly on there and you can keep several used wag bags in there. PVC is an excellent source of odor control, although I have never tried this for Wag Bags. If anyone does, please send me an email with your experience to editor@southwindsmagazine.com and I'll pass the word along.

Don't forget: When you open that up, it will really smell! Move quickly to close it back up - or be ready to hold your nose. But you won't have to worry about every puncturing a PVC pipe, like you would an OP Sak.

       - Steve Morrell, editor