"Vacuum" bags for storage ?

[sarabande]

The ones which you fill with clothes/sheets/etc) then attach to a suction cleaner,.

Do they work, and if so, which are the best please ?

I want to store sleeping bags and duvets onboard without them becoming like sponges.

 

[geem]

Lakeland work well but expensive

 

[Pye_End]

There are some JML bags with their own 12v vacuum pump which I have used with good effect. Havn't tried with sleeping bags etc. but have with pillows etc over the winter.

Tried a couple of makes in the past, but seem to lose their seal after a while, if they have them in the first place. Bit of a lottery.

 

[Clancy Moped]

They work well, we used to store all our winter clothes duvets etc in them on the boat, one tip, don't fold stuff in them they won't shrink down as well.

 

[Alfie168]

Bought mine in Dunelm and they are brilliant. I keep duvet and pillows in them and my spare cheapo high vis sailing jacket as well. I use the "suck" side of a 12v airbed inflator and they stay as fresh as you could wish for. I view them as an essential. The storage on my small boat is very limited and the squished down volume is also a big help.

 

[Graham_Wright]

We took a memory foam mattress topper by air to France in a vac bag.

It was like an ironing board and took two days to reform!

 

[harvey38]

Got ours from Amazon, bloody brilliant things. Laundered all of the bed linen then put it back on the pillows, duvet cover back on the duvet then bagged it all up in about four bags with the fitted sheets etc. They stayed vac packed for about three months and it didn't matter if it was raining when we put it all in the marina cart to transport back to the boat.

 

[Clancy Moped]

I did destroy one using 3bar electric dingy pump, a regular vac is fine.

 

[Ian_Edwards]

I have 4, one for the bedding in each each of the 3 cabins, and one for towels and things like that.
We use duvet and pillows, and the 3 cabin bags store the duvet, pillows, spare duvet cover and sheets. I take the other set home to wash between trips.
They are Compactors, bought from Amazon. They do tend to leak over time, but it was UV that killed the first set, they are stored in the attic over winter, and there was enough UV coming through the Velux windows to completely destroy the outer cover, they turned to powder. That process took 5 winters.

 

[sarabande]

Thanks everyone. Most encouraging.

I think I will head off to the Amazon.

 

[Tea_Bag]

The Spacesaver type from Amazon have been great. Come with small hand pump. Small sizes have proven more useful than large in order to overwinter bed linens and duvets.

 

[Iliade]

I found that if I evacuated them they could leak and draw damp air in. I now don't evacuate them and don't have smelly stuff.

 

[oldgit]

Cheap ebay stuff with manual pump is blimming hard work and ensuring seal on bags a pain, most of mine failed on second use.

 

[mattonthesea]

Can't remember where from but ours were fab for a couple of years and then they split easily.

Top tip: if water ingress is a probability then positive pressure can be better.

 

[jac]

I found that if I evacuated them they could leak and draw damp air in. I now don't evacuate them and don't have smelly stuff.

This is exactly our approach, Compacting is great at home but once actually on board does it really need compacting? certainly for duvets. pillows etc that might be needed next time. WE typically would show stuff in, exclude as much air as possible then pop in a coupel of sachets of silica gel and stuff would stay sweet for ages.