How to Get the Smell Out of Camping Gear: Tents, Sleeping Bags, Chairs, and Boots

Here is the cycle every camper knows. You get home tired. You put the gear in the bin. You put the bin in the garage. Eight months later you open it, and the smell that comes out of it tells you exactly how the last trip ended.

The gear did not get worse in storage. It went into storage already carrying the odor, and then it sat in a sealed container with nowhere for that odor to go, marinating in itself. Whatever it smelled like on the last day of the trip is what it smells like now, only more so.

The fix happens before it goes in the bin, and it takes about fifteen minutes.

What each piece is actually holding

Tents. The odor here is a combination of moisture and body odor from four people sleeping in a nylon bubble. If a tent went into the bag even slightly damp, that is where the musty smell came from, and it is now in the fabric and the seams.

Sleeping bags. The lining is the problem, not the shell. It spent every night against skin, sweat, and whatever was on your clothes. The hood and the foot box are the worst two spots and the two everyone skips.

Sleeping pads and air mattresses. The top surface, all night, against a sleeping bag.

Camp chairs. These sat next to the fire, in the rain, on the dirt, and got sat in by sweaty people for a week. They may be the most odor-loaded item in the whole kit.

Hiking boots and camp shoes. Everyone knows about these. What people miss is that boots left in a sealed bin re-scent every soft item in that bin.

Backpacks. Shoulder straps and the back panel, which spent the entire hike against your sweat.

Gear bags, dry bags, and duffels. They hold whatever was put inside them.

Coolers. Not covered by odor spray alone. A cooler that had food in it needs to be washed out first. Once it is clean and dry, treat the interior and the lid gasket.

The fifteen-minute pack-out routine

Do this before anything goes in a bin. Outside, on the driveway, while you are unloading.

1. Everything comes out and gets opened. Unfold the chairs. Unroll the bags. Open the tent. Unzip the packs.

2. Saturate everything. Take Odorless RV and go over each item heavily. Sleeping bag: inside and out, and get the hood and the foot box. Tent: the floor, the walls, the seams, and the rainfly. Chairs: the seat, the back, and the arms, front and back of the fabric. Boots: soak the interior, not just the insole surface. Backpack: the straps and the back panel. Pads: the whole top surface.

Do not go light on any of this. Odor sits in the fibers, and the goal is to reach it, not to pass over the top of it.

3. The odor is gone on contact. There is no waiting and nothing to let sit. The odor is eliminated the moment the spray reaches it.

4. Now let everything dry. This step is not about the odor, which is already handled. It is about not putting damp gear into a sealed bin, which is how you create the next problem. Everything goes in the bin bone dry or it does not go in the bin.

5. Store it dry and store it loose. Sleeping bags should be stored loose in a large sack, not compressed in their stuff sack, which is bad for the loft and bad for airflow. Keep boots out of the bin with the soft goods, or in their own container.

The one that gets skipped

The camp chairs. Every time. They get folded and thrown in the bay or the garage still carrying campfire smoke, rain, dirt, and a week of sweat, and then they sit against everything else. Treat the chairs. They are the single biggest source of a stinky gear bin and they take about ninety seconds each.

If your gear lives in the RV

Storage bays are the worst possible environment for untreated gear. Dark, unventilated, and often humid. Whatever you put in there stays exactly as it is and shares it with everything nearby. Treat gear before it goes in the bay, keep the bay as dry as you can, and hit the bay's interior surfaces too.

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FAQ

How do I get the musty smell out of a tent? Set it up or spread it out, then saturate the floor, walls, seams, and rainfly. The musty smell usually means the tent was packed damp, so make sure it is completely dry before it goes back in the bag.

How do I get the smell out of a sleeping bag without washing it? Saturate the lining, which is where the odor is, and pay attention to the hood and the foot box. Odorless RV eliminates the odor on contact and will not stain or damage the fabric.

Why do my hiking boots still smell after airing them out? Airing out lets a little odor escape but leaves the rest embedded in the lining and the insole. Soak the interior rather than spraying the surface.

Can I use this on a backpack and gear bags? Yes. Focus on the shoulder straps and the back panel, which hold the most sweat.

Will it work on a cooler? Wash the cooler out first. Odor spray is not a substitute for cleaning food residue, and it is not a disinfectant. Once it is clean and dry, treat the interior and the lid gasket.

Is there an unscented option for hunting gear? Yes. The Double Pack includes a full 16 oz of Unscented alongside Open Road.