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Post by FarOutFarley on Oct 2, 2021 15:58:31 GMT -8
I need to repack my gear quickly for the next trip. I don't necessarily have time or space to dry the tent and fly spread out in the living room, and I'm thinking that the dryer on no heat might do a better job?? Yes, I know you can't subject a tent to heat in the dryer. (Not even low heat??)
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Post by trinity on Oct 2, 2021 16:11:41 GMT -8
I would never put a tent in the dryer, with heat or without it. Hang it outside, and pack it back up damp, if necessary. We've all had to do that anyways, from time to time, on backpacking trips.
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Post by FarOutFarley on Oct 2, 2021 16:54:55 GMT -8
I would never put a tent in the dryer, with heat or without it. Hang it outside, and pack it back up damp, if necessary. We've all had to do that anyways, from time to time, on backpacking trips. WHY would you never put a tent in the dryer without heat?
Sometimes when I get home weather doesn't permit hanging the tent outside---could be raining, humid, etc.
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franco
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Post by franco on Oct 2, 2021 17:09:56 GMT -8
Depending on what tent you have and the dryer itself, there is a good chance that when spinning the zip or other abrasive parts of the tent could damage the fabric. But it may not happen to you.
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Post by JRinGeorgia on Oct 2, 2021 17:10:58 GMT -8
The tumbling could tear it. It likely will ball up in places so much of it would stay wet in the dryer anyway.
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Post by trinity on Oct 2, 2021 17:13:06 GMT -8
WHY would you never put a tent in the dryer without heat? Just to clarify--my opinion is not terribly informed. But I think that even with zero heat, the tumbling action might be more than most tents are designed to stand up to. I may be wrong about that, but I just personally wouldn't do it. Sometimes when I get home weather doesn't permit hanging the tent outside---could be raining, humid, etc. Yes, but the same thing applies to backpacking, right? How many times have we all had to pack up a wet tent? I guess this doesn't seem like a big deal to me, and not worth risking potential damage to my tent. Again, this is just my own, not terribly well-informed, opinion.
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Post by bobcat1 on Oct 2, 2021 17:14:02 GMT -8
Probably better to hang the tent on the shower curtain rod and put a fan blowing on it. The tumbling in the dryer might damage the tent, and add a lot of wear and tear. Plus, the hardware on the tent (zippers, metal rings, whatever) might scratch your dryer drum. Then again, it’s your tent so go ahead and try it and let us know if anything happens.
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gabby
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Post by gabby on Oct 2, 2021 17:21:19 GMT -8
Tents dry out really fast inside a house that is air-conditioned.
It might even help to put it in your laundry room if your laundry room is like mine and inside the house. Also, if your house is like mine, there's probably something you need to wash. Just wash so you can run the dryer. Or put a small heater in the laundry room. Just make sure it's far enough away from the nylon!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 2, 2021 17:30:45 GMT -8
How good are you at untying lots and lots of wicked knots? Don't ask how I know.
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Post by dayhiker on Oct 2, 2021 21:09:48 GMT -8
I would think hanging would allow gravity to drip off allot of the water. Also if you can spread it out, then air and heat would allow the rest to evaporate, as would a fan that someone said. I think the spinning of a dryer just makes up for not being able to spread the stuff out, for the most part. My bathroom has a draft that makes for very good drying. You could also use towels to dry off allot of the water and then wait for it to air dry by hanging it. Or if you can put it up in the sun it should dry pretty quick, we used to get our tents wet every night, then put them up on a sunny pass while we eat, or at least spread them out. I put one up in a rest stop once on the way home, they said no camping, but I told them I was drying it out, and they were ok with that.
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Post by FarOutFarley on Oct 3, 2021 4:32:08 GMT -8
Thanks, everyone. The consensus seems to be that abrasion in the dryer could damage the tent. I suspected that. So I won't do it. Thanks for setting me straight.
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ErnieW
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I want to backpack
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Post by ErnieW on Oct 3, 2021 5:56:51 GMT -8
I also feel no dryer with abrasion on the very thin waterproof coatings being the issue. If you have a cheap tent you are not looking at for long term maybe it would be OK but here you have, myself including, people with very pricey tents that we want to last as long as possible. I believe there are people here with tents 10 or 20+ years old in their tent inventories.
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Post by Coolkat on Oct 4, 2021 12:13:18 GMT -8
I've had to pack up my tent wet so many time it doesn't even phase me anymore. Stop an extra 30 minutes early and setup to dry out. This last hike I had to pack it up wet and then put it up in the rain. Was it wet inside? Oh yeah... even had puddles but thanks to a chamois it got it so it was only damp before bed time.
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driftwoody
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Take the path closer to the edge, especially if less traveled
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Post by driftwoody on Oct 4, 2021 13:03:08 GMT -8
On my last trip we had hours of downpour the night before our mid-week hotel stay. We found a crummy cheap motel, but it had one outstanding feature -- a grassy area right outside our door that we could see through the window. The sun came out that afternoon and so did our tents, which didn't take long to dry set up in the breeze.
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Post by High Sierra Fan on Nov 29, 2021 17:55:17 GMT -8
If necessary I’ll hang my tent over my shower pole and occasionally shift it. With the bathroom exhaust fan there’s decent airflow and it will dry overnight. Basically how I dry all my shirts.
Aiming a box fan at it would surely improve the process as suggested above. I mean that’s essentially what you’re aiming for with a dryer set to no heat anyway as I see it: ambient airflow across the fabric.
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