Shit shit shit - tent has gone mouldy - Help?

[whojamaflip]

Just got the tent out to air it before our trip on Sat and its gone feckin mouldy

It was dry (I thought) when we put it away at Easter but its minging. It seems to be washing off the walls ok with plain water but the windows are covered in large patches of mould, all the colours of the rainbow which look like they're inside the plastic if that makes sense. And they aren't shifting

Any ideas? We only bought it in March - please tell me it will be ok?

If no one here comes back with a better solution, try using Milton fluid. I soaked DD's clothes in it once when they were in the laundry basket too long with yogurt or something on and the mould just disappeared. We also got some in the bathroom and I soaked cotton wool balls in neat Milton and laid them on the mould and it just melted away. I am not sure it would be the best choice for the fabric of the tent as it tends to fade, but for the windows it should be ok (test a small bit first).

Exactly the same thing happened to us when we pitched the tent last week, dh had been put it away damp in June. It smelt awful for about an hour so I opened all the doors etc and it was ok. I washed the windows down with anti bac spray and again, after some sunshine we were EXTREMELY lucky. It looked fine by the end of the trip but we did have lots of sunshine. Good luck!

We had small patches of mould and used diluted bleach on them and looked as good as new afterwards. We only had mould on our inner though which is white - now I think about it if any colour was involved it would remove the colour and look crap.

Milton fluid does normally get the best results!!

Oh dont!! Our tent is coming out loft tonight after I dread to think how many years!! Please god its not turned ti penicillin lol

Milton - lots of it - Mine suffers a bit from mold - around the windows - I give is a good scrub every spring and re waterproof it - it's lasted us well

Ours went mildewy after being put away damp last year and forgotten about . we used Dettol mould & mildew cleaner which worked a treat.

Good luck sorting it out OP.

I feel this is a good time to wag my camping finger here....never ever leave a damp tent rolled up and put away. Even if it is slightly damp when you put it away, make it your first priority to get it out when you get home and dry it out properly - even if it is very last thing you can be arsed to do!

Mould ruins tents...and I am fastidious about drying them out.

I'll second the Dettol mould & mildew spray. Used that on one of mine.

You'll need to get a can of Fabsil or similar to reproof the fly sheet fabric. Both mould and mould cleaning products will damage the water repellent coatings.

Washed tent down with Milton and apart from some rather interesting patterns on the windows it came up fine.

Mind you I'm glad I paid extra for next day delivery of some waterproofing stuff and re-did the tent before we went - we managed to survive yesterdays torrential rainwith no leaks!

pictish wagged finger been received loud and clear - tent is spread out in the barn drying as I write -hope you are impressed- we only got back at about 5 and it was the first thing I did

Good for you - I am indeed very impressed.
There's not a lot out ther that makes me go all naggy - but I AM precious over the taking good care of camping gear. Treated well it will all provide you and yours with holidays for years. I am bizarrely passionate about camping, and the gear pertaining to.