[at-l] Washing my Tent?

[hudsom@xxxxxxxxxx (Mark Hudson)]

I suspect that the smell you're talking about may be a case of mildew. I
had a tent that took on a rather vile smell that washing didn't seem to
cure. Try handwashing with a gently detergent, and then going over the tent
several times over a week or so with Fabreese (sp?) or a similar product.
It took a couple of doses but worked for me, or at least got it down to a
barely noticable level.
BTW, the instructions that I've seen for tents says not to machine wash
them. OTOH I've gotten away with it... heck, if it won't take the rigors of
a washing machine how is it supposed to stand up on the trail? <g>.
Assuming you would never, ever, machine wash a tent, remove all attached
guy lines first, and zip up the screen so it won't snag.

skeeter