We bought an Outwell Michigan XL last September and used it once for 2 nights in the poring rain. Having read on here about the importance of airing the tent we got it out as soon as we had a dry day and left it to air for quite a while in the garden. It was a sunny day with a breeze so I felt quite happy that it was dry and aired.
However we've just been away for the first time this year and to our horror one of the bedroom pods has mildew in it. Hopefully as the pod can be removed, washing it will sort it and we've been relatively lucky but obviously it shouldn't have happened and we want to prevent it happening again.
Any ideas on where we went wrong? I'm concerned as we've had to pack the tent away wet again yesterday, it's wet today and no dry weather forecast till Friday. We haven't room in the house to air it inside, will leaving it till then cause damage?
Will the bedroom pods be ok in the washer? And any advice on how to clean the rest on the tent without damaging the waterproofing?
We also had a few drops through the 'living room' roof during a very heavy rainfall on Saturday night - is this a cause for concern too?
Sorry for all the daft questions, second time campers!
I've found the dettol mould and mildew remover great for removing any areas of mould / mildew, it works really well, and hasnt caused any damage to the tent I've used it on. I think it works better than my old favourite of milton fluid.
Just sprayed a little on a cloth, wiped the mouldy bits, left it for 10 minutes, then wiped it off with a clean cloth and water, and the mould was gone. It does contain bleach though, so I recommend marigolds or similar!
I did reproof the tent, as it needed doing anyway, so Im not sure whether you'd need to or not.
You should not leave the tent rolled up for more than 24 -48 hours if its wet. it will start to go mouldy that quickly.
spread it out, in the bath if you have nowhere else you can drape it, before you can pitch it again, keep turning it so that air can get to it.
Wash the inners in the machine, on the quickwash program,non bio liquid, give an extra rinse so there is no detergent residue left.
make sure the tent is completely bone dry, this includes the guylines,and the groundsheet which may take longer to dry than the flysheet. damp guylines can cause mould on a dry tent , perhaps that is what happened the first time.
Its best not to use anything other than plain water to clean the outer tent. anything else can affect the waterproofing.
When taking down a wet tent, remove the bedrooms and store seperately, this stops the inners getting wet too.
Currently our new tent is taking up half of our living room, the only space we have available without moving the furniture out!! There's no way our tent would fit in our bathroom let alone the bath. We put our out in the living room lastnight and turned the heating on and it's about a quarter folded, we keep turning it but it is still quite wet underneath, we've taken the bedroom pods out and we're just hoping that the weather dries up a bit and we can get it outside even though there's not much more room out there. It's the first time in 6 years camping we've had to pack up in the rain and in all honesty it was something i've been dreading.
------------- May/June - Spring Valley
Aug/Sept - Leekworth
I too am an advocate of the Dettol Mould and Mildew remover as we used it on the bedroom pod of our second hand Outwell Monty 4 earlier this year.
Spray on, leave for a couple of minutes and then chuck in the washing machine on a gentle wash (with NO detergent). Came out completely clear of any trace of mildew.
Better to have your tent pitched in the garden, raining or not than having it soggy in the house. You could leave the bedroom inners in the house, turning occasionally just making sure they're completely dry.
thanks everyone for these tips as years ago we packed our first tent away for the winter and it was mouldy, but we've kept it in the attic ever since so i'm going to have a go at cleaning it when it stops raining!
Better to have your tent pitched in the garden, raining or not than having it soggy in the house. You could leave the bedroom inners in the house, turning occasionally just making sure they're completely dry.
Not a chance of pitching it in the garden, as I said it's not big enough, it would be out there partly crumpled up and gathering the rain.
Bedroom inners removed when we packed up at the site.
------------- May/June - Spring Valley
Aug/Sept - Leekworth
Unfortunately, I think if we left our tent over night in the garden it would be gone or damaged in the morning - our next door neighbout even had her bird feeder pinched!
Just a quick update before I go to bed, the dehumidifier is working well and one side of the tent has dried out while the other is still very wet, so it's been rotated again and hopefully overnight that part will dry out before it is rotated again in the morning. The things we do for our hobby!
------------- May/June - Spring Valley
Aug/Sept - Leekworth
We've had it out today and washed it but then it drizzled so t's still wet - I've had the worst affected bedroom pod in the washer but still mouldy bits - is mildew remover safe as I expect the bleach will discolour the pod?
We'll have to try again tomorrow and hope for a dry few hours with the main tent,
Spray it with the mildew remover , it acts almost instantly, dont leave it on very long , only a few minutes , then back in the washer to give it a good rinse.
it wont discolour the pod if you dont leave it sit on it for too long .
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Topic: Tent advice - mildew
