You don't have to wash a tent after rain on a trip....it's the fact that it's packed away wet that causes the mildew......as long as it's dry when packed it'll be fine.....rain itself does no harm to the fabric while the tent is in use.
Had the same problem packing up after the first trip in the new tent SIG was covered in mud from the soggy ground got as much off as possible but didnt want to pack away but I had taken one of the large Ikea shopping bags with me (the blue ones) and packed it in that ideal until i got home still got air to it but kept everything else clean
Well we escaped the worst of it, and a fairly sunny but very windy Friday morning saw us get the tent packed away dry thankfully.
A couple of neighbouring groups weren't quite so quick off the mark and ended up getting caught by some late morning showers.
Still gonna get the thing out to clean all the leaves off before repacking.
We found that a pack towel liberally wiped over the outside to get the big rain drops off then a couple of hours sun did the trick. Inside we removed the bedroom pods, opened all vents, doors and windows (as always) and stuck the fan heater on for an hour to dry the inside out nicely.
Thanks all for the tips and thoughts
------------- Smytham Manor, Aug 11
Sandringham C&CC Aug 10
Canterbury C&CC Aug 09
Inside Park, Dorset Aug 09
I think a new tent is like a new car. To begin with you polish and nurture it, dry it off when it gets wet, wash it when it gets dirty, check for chips and marks regularly, but eventually you can't be too bothered any more...but I guess it depends how often you use it.
There's no way we can hang the Khyam anywhere in our tiny shoe box of a house, so we have to put it up in the garden. It's a nightmare, as we haven't got enough room to guy it out properly, we're at the top of a hill and it's pretty windy up here.
Thankfully, we've only had to put it up to dry once since we've had it.
Thanks for this thread lol. Our tent was de pitched in driving wind and rain last Wednesday and sat in the bag in the car till I read this. Managed to get it out on the front lawn today, cleaned all the inside and mud off it and it was just about dry when it started pouring down again!
Gonna have to put it out again its starting to annoy me now LOL