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Sunday afternoon, the car smells of wet grass, and the tent is still crammed in its bag exactly as you rolled it at seven that morning in drizzle. The easy thing is to leave it in the garage until next weekend. Please don’t. A tent packed away damp can start growing mildew within a few days, and once the grey spots and that sour smell arrive, they rarely leave completely.
Knowing how to dry a tent properly comes down to speed and air. Get it out of the bag within a day, open it up so air reaches every layer, and only pack it away once the seams and groundsheet feel bone dry. Everything else is detail, but the detail is where tents quietly get ruined.
Table of contents
Why a damp tent can’t wait
Mildew is a mould, and a packed wet tent gives it everything it likes: darkness, warmth and no moving air. Beyond the smell, it can stain fabric for good and attack the waterproof coating on the fly and groundsheet. Many tents use a polyurethane (PU) coating, and long spells stored damp can make it break down and turn sticky over time.
A good rule of thumb is that a tent which went into the bag wet comes out again within 24 hours, 48 at a push. In my opinion, one wet pack-up is nothing to worry about. It’s the forgotten one, found three weeks later, that costs people a tent.
What to do before you leave the pitch
You can do half the drying before the car is even loaded, grey weather or not.
- Shake the fly while it is still pitched, or hold it by two corners with a friend. A lot of water simply falls off.
- Wipe the outside of the fly and the underside of the groundsheet with a large microfibre towel. It soaks up a surprising amount and wrings out easily.
- Pack the fly separately from the inner if your tent allows it. The inner is often only damp from condensation, and keeping the layers apart stops the wet one soaking the dry one.
- Knock mud and grass off the groundsheet and pegs. Dried mud holds moisture against the fabric.
- Put the wet fly in a roomy bag (a spare bin bag works) rather than forcing it into the tight original stuff sack.
If most of the wet came from the inside rather than the rain, the fix starts the night before. Our guide to stopping tent condensation covers venting and pitching habits that leave you less to dry, and the tips on pitching a tent in the rain help keep the inner dry from the start.
How to dry a tent at home
The best method is the simplest: pitch it again. A garden on a dry, breezy day usually does the job in a few hours. Put up the inner and fly, open every door and vent, and flip the tent over partway through so the groundsheet dries underneath too.
Sun helps, but treat it as a short boost rather than a drying rack. UV slowly weakens nylon and polyester, so a tent left out on the lawn all week is not being done any favours either.
No garden? Try these
- Garage or shed: hang the inner and fly from the rafters or a line, prop the door open and let air move through.
- Clothes airer or washing line: drape each layer over it and shift the folds every hour or so, because folded fabric stays wet.
- Bath or shower rail: fine for small backpacking tents. Hang the fly over the rail and open the bathroom window.
- Balcony: clip the fly to the railing on a breezy day and keep an eye on gusts.
Keep it away from radiators, heaters, fires and tumble dryers. Direct heat can damage coatings and seam tape, and synthetic fabric can shrink or melt. Air does the work, it just takes longer.
Don’t forget the small stuff. Wipe the poles, spread the pegs out on an old towel so they don’t rust in a sealed bag, and hang the footprint separately, since it’s usually the muddiest, wettest item of the lot.
How to tell it’s properly dry
Flat panels dry first and fool people. Check the places water hides:
- Seams and taped edges
- Pole sleeves, clips and guy line attachment points
- The corners and folds of the groundsheet
- Zip tracks and rolled-up door panels
- The inside of the stuff sack itself
If a spot feels cool to the touch, it is probably still damp, so give it a few more hours. Air your sleeping bag the same way, loose and out of direct heat, before it goes back into storage. If you’re still choosing one, our guide to camping sleeping bags explains the fill types, and down is the one that really hates staying damp.
Found mildew? What to do next
Small patches can often be rescued. Brush off dry mould outdoors, then sponge the area gently with lukewarm water and a cleaner made for tents, such as Nikwax Tent and Gear SolarWash. Check your tent maker’s care instructions first, as some brands are specific about what they allow.
Never use bleach, washing-up liquid or a washing machine. They can strip coatings and wreck seam tape. Rinse, then dry everything fully all over again. A faint stain may stay, but if the smell goes and the fabric still sheds water, the tent has plenty of trips left. If the coating has gone sticky or is flaking, that’s usually beyond a home fix, and our roundup of the best camping tents is a sensible place to start looking.
Storing it once it’s dry
Store the tent loosely in a cool, dry place rather than crushed in its stuff sack for months. A big cotton bag or a large mesh storage bag lets air circulate. Skip lofts that bake in summer and sheds that drip in winter.
Try to fold it slightly differently each time so creases don’t wear into the same lines. And add “dry the tent” to your car camping checklist as the last job of every trip. It sounds fussy. It isn’t, really, once it becomes habit.
A wet tent on Sunday is just weather. A wet tent the following Saturday, opened to a grey bloom and that smell, is the part you can avoid. Give it a few hours of air and it will be ready the next time the forecast looks kind.
