diff -Naurd boost/boost/mpi/detail/packed_iprimitive.hpp boost-strings/boost/mpi/detail/packed_iprimitive.hpp
--- boost/boost/mpi/detail/packed_iprimitive.hpp
+++ boost-strings/boost/mpi/detail/packed_iprimitive.hpp
@@ -86,7 +86,8 @@
         load_impl(&t, get_mpi_datatype(t), 1);
     }
 
-    void load( std::string & s)
+    template<typename char_type>
+    void load( std::basic_string<char_type> & s)
     {
        unsigned int l;
         load(l);
@@ -96,16 +97,16 @@
         #endif
         s.resize(l);
         // note breaking a rule here - could be a problem on some platform
-        load_impl(const_cast<char *>(s.data()),MPI_CHAR,l);
-    }
+        load_impl(const_cast<char_type *>(s.data()),MPI_CHAR,l*sizeof(char_type));
+        }
 
 private:
 
     void load_impl(void * p, MPI_Datatype t, int l)
-    {
+        {
         BOOST_MPI_CHECK_RESULT(MPI_Unpack,
         (const_cast<char*>(boost::serialization::detail::get_data(buffer_)), buffer_.size(), &position, p, l, t, comm));
-    }
+        }
 
         buffer_type & buffer_;
         mutable std::size_t size_;
diff -Naurd boost/boost/mpi/detail/packed_oprimitive.hpp boost-strings/boost/mpi/detail/packed_oprimitive.hpp
--- boost/boost/mpi/detail/packed_oprimitive.hpp
+++ boost-strings/boost/mpi/detail/packed_oprimitive.hpp
@@ -77,12 +77,13 @@
         save_impl(&t, get_mpi_datatype<T>(t), 1);
     }
 
-    void save(const std::string &s)
-    {
+	template<typename char_type>
+        void save(const std::basic_string<char_type> &s)
+        {
       unsigned int l = static_cast<unsigned int>(s.size());
       save(l);
-      save_impl(s.data(),MPI_CHAR,s.size());
-    }
+      save_impl(s.data(),MPI_CHAR,s.size()*sizeof(char_type));
+        }
 
 private: