I cannot believe I am posting this. In 30+ years of camping as an adult I have never had a mouldy tent until now.
We have just had two glorious weeks away, when we first put the tent up we didn't notice anything. But when we were sorting the bedroom we realised that one side of the bedroom pod and the corresponding flysheet were covered in brown mould spots. You cannot see this from the outside of the fly at all just the inside.
We haven't used this tent since last summer as we have a smaller short break tent. When we got home last summer we put the tent up in the garden and were sure it was dry when we packed it away. Clearly not dry enough.
We have decided to leave the fly but to put the bedroom pod through the washing machine. It was fine for our two week trip but it annoyed us that this happened as we are so careful when packing away
Same happened to me 2yrs ago.
We went away for a long weekend in Germany, put tent up and the good wife goes look at that etc. Mould over parts of it. Arghhhh. Looked like we were a right pair of mingers in my mind.
When we got home from that trip my wife cleaned it all and it has been ok, but in approx 40yrs of camping I have never had that happen.
Same thing happened to our Son & D-I-L's tent when they set up for Muckerette's birthday camp last month. Massive 6 berth polyester, absolutely covered in spots, roof and walls... and it stunk! Was stored in their trailer in a new/modern Brick garage. She is adamant it went in there bone dry a few months previous. The cover was on the trailer though, so whether it "sweated", nobody knows!
It's a fairly old tent, but even so, she was gutted, and will struggle to find something with such an ideal layout (An all pitched as one 5 poled tunnel with fully enclosed front porch for kitchen and dogs, plus a 4+2 bedroom set up, and a side annex/porch.
For now, she's keeping hold of it, as she thinks she's stopped the rot, but it doesn't look pretty! How long it will last is anybody's guess!
The same thing happened to me on my last trip a few weeks ago. Erected the tent and suddenly noticed light coloured spots over the top part of one wall and part of the roof and I was certain it went away dry the previous trip.
It was definitely on the inside so I washed as much as I could off with plain water but it still left a few marks. Thankfully, we had one of the hottest days of the year and after the sun had been on it for awhile all the spots disappeared.
I am hoping I caught it before mould fully set in and that I won't be in for any nasty shocks the next time I go camping. The tent certainly went away dry this last time.
Took me a while, but I saw what you did there, Tim!
I bet it's not even real mold! Probably lots of little brown self-adhesive stick-on dots!
The post on here is just to add to the plan. We all say she needs a new tent, Purple shows the family, job done! Clever!
Quote: Originally posted by Mucker1884 on 25/8/2017
Took me a while, but I saw what you did there, Tim!
I bet it's not even real mold! Probably lots of little brown self-adhesive stick-on dots!
The post on here is just to add to the plan. We all say she needs a new tent, Purple shows the family, job done! Clever!
She's good though... she had me fooled!
I have just posted photographic evidence in my trip report, judge for yourself if I got busy with a felt tip
I can imagine how upset/annoyed you must have felt, I'd be the same. I'm now silently panicking about Esther and Raymondo, having not had either out this year...
Just a thought, could it be rust spots or fly spots rather than mould as such?
Or, you could just say your tent has freckles?
------------- Camping - emotional resilience in action, a triumph of hope over adversity and antidote to virtual reality.
It sounds like it might be fly poo, as they leave these small round brownish dots on various surfaces, maybe one or two got trapped when packing it up? Did you find any dead fly carcasses when you got the tent out again?
Well this is it, its hard to tell if it is fly poo or not, only quantity and careful analysis of said affected area could really indicate if it is or not. What with flies being attracted to some campers and their tents in another thread, it could be a possibility.
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Topic: Mouldy tent
