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just got my hartford out for next week to check it over only to discover it was full of dry mud and dead spiders.  this tells me that after our wet week last year i didn't dry it out when we got home!!!  we do pack kinda carefully and take off the worst of the mud while we're packing it up but usually get it out and sort it nicely on return home. it must have been damp at least.  doesn't smell or look mildewy, except little white spots on pole sleeves.  Think it is ok??  eek, bad tent mummy.

Can you pitch it and give it a brush and hose down? The white spots could be mould, or they could be efflorescence. Whatever...it sounds as if you got away lightly!

I use a silicone scraper that peeps use to get water off cars after they wash them to get most of the water off the tent as soon as I am dressed the morning I strike camp.

This way, by the time I have breakfast, packed the stuff inside the camp and loaded the car as much as I can, the tent will be dry enough to be packed away.

So far I have been lucky in that the weather had always been kind to me on the days I struck camp in the past  

DK

The silicone scrapers from car shops are bigger than the bathroom types. Try raiding your garage to see if the man in your life has one for his car, men usually do due to their love for their cars, and "borrow" it for your camping trips

DK

We (more like I) always get the tent back out when we get home even if we've had no rain as there is always damp dew in the morning when packing it away. I normally hang it over the banister and just keep turning it over if it's wet out side, on the patio if it's nice.

Our last trip it was raining sooooo much I just rolled it up and shoved it in the boot at the bottom (got a Berlingo with rubber mat) and dried it at home, but after reading another post on here I can't remember if I dried the poles