I have a shop vac 1.5 HP,

when doin' kayaks the best thing is, ofcourse, never to clean your vac.

Unfortunately I did violate that recomendation few times.

1.

I did it outside !

2.

I had my respirator on !

3.

I had gloves on !

4.

I poured everything from the vac into a plastic bag,
then closed the plastic bag & put it in the dumpster.

5.

remove the wheels & wash the vac' bucket.

6. wipe the head portion of the vac with cloth or paper towel or something.

that's the part with the motor, so don't put water on it.

7. wash the filter under water. the filter of my vac is a piece of something
like synthetic paper so I just wash it under water & then let it dry.
It worked few times & then I had to replace it.

8. then I went & washed myself ! conclusion: there is no clean way of doing it.

build less, paddle more,

Erez