tent smell

“I have a Sierra Designs two-person tent that is in clean and in good shape but ever since it was new it has smelled like old match heads.
I always store it on a hanger rather than rolled up so that hopefully the smell would dissipate but so far no luck. I am wondering if this smell comes from some common treatment such as a water proofer or fire retardant. Any ideas or suggestions?”

“Cup of Lysol liquid mixed with gallon of water.
Soak.”

“Match heads?...yer lucky. It could be mildew or something more gnarly like foot odor.

My shelter's all stink like campfire, which I don't mind.

If you don't mind spending a small amount of cash try MiraZyme odor eliminator...tha chit works, trust me!

A list of links.”

“Ours had a really bad odor until a couple weeks ago. We used the Nikwax Tech Wash. It did the trick. Smells perty again.”

“It's what you eat for dinner man.. the whole campsite smells!

*giggle*”

“Here's something that you will find pretty funny. I'd posted once asking about how to clean Gore-Tex. Don't try this with your tent.



Take it and wash it in strong liquid detergent, and three cups of bleach. Do this four times in a row and then dry it for 90 minutes on high heat or until it starts delaminating. Remove from dryer and shake until all the delaminated flakes fall to the floor. Carefully place the jacket in the closest trash can and go directly to your nearest outdoor store and buy something that is really waterproof.

No thanks necessary! Just tryin? to do my part!

Nigal
11/21/00”

“I think it is caused from your large amount of seam sealer (spooge) on your tent walls. You shouldn't be doing that stuff on the trail (its bad luck)and if you miss the seams clean up can be a mess.


LOL

its funny because it aplys for bother spooge and seam sealer.”

“I remember when you didn't know what spooge was & Radman had to tell ya.”

“Well in NJ we use different terms for that. And I was on TT today for that thread so I was only able to read afew of the post on that thread, if I had read the whole thread I would have guessed what it meant imideatly”

“well, he spelled "spooge" correctly!”

“It smells like sulfur?
Sulfur compounds are used to crosslink rubber in modern polymers (plastics). If this is the case, it is part of the chemistry of your tent and cannot be removed.

On the other hand, it could be a smelly seam sealer, flame retardant, or waterproof coating added after the fact..in this case, you probably don't want to remove it??”

“btw, if your tent is nylon, it is probably a coating added later because nylon by itself is not waterproof”