Drying clothes

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Bigtallfatbloke

New Member
Ok I know there is no perfect answer, except heading for a laundrette or a YH with a drying room...but are there any tips out there on how to dry off wet gear in a tent when it's pissing down outside?
 

Cathryn

Legendary Member
Not the foggiest. This is where credit card touring comes into its own!! :blush:
 
You can't, except by wearing them. If it is hissing down for a number of days, we end up in a hotel or hostel every other night to dry our clothes and gear out. If you can't get to a hotel, it's best to keep a wet set of clothes for riding in (great fun putting them on first thing) and keep a dry set to change into in the tent.
 
Trust me!

Have a towel or even better a pack towel handy.

Roll wet clothes into towel

Dance on towel!

This will remove most of the moisture and speed up the drying process.

Trust me - it works, I can have a soaking wet pair of shorts from the morning run in dry for when I go home in the evening!
 

Tim Bennet.

Entirely Average Member
Location
S of Kendal
The other thing to remember is to try and not get wet in the first place! I know it sounds stupid, but it does reflect a slightly different mind set you need when camping in damp, cool weather. Sometimes you can time your day to miss the worst of the rain or alternatively sit out a thunderstorm, for instance.

Also, if I'm out for a day and know I will be returning to a place I can dry stuff, then I am happy to perhaps wear just a rain top and not bother how saturated my lower half becomes.

But if I am camping, then I will consider using over trousers and even over shoes. With Goretex and some care with ventilation, it is possible to get a lot less wet than you might imagine.

Wet cycle touring is not easy, but can be made tolerable.
 
Picky!!!!!!!

OK - kneel on it and move around in a rythmis fashion, ltearnatively it makes up a good chatup line....


"I'm trying to dry out my shorts, can we sh@g on top of this rolled up towel? "


The important thing is to aply mechanical pressure!
 

friedel

New Member
Location
On our bikes!
The towel thing does help but we have never really had anything dry effectively in a tent. Just get a hotel if you run into a nasty rainy streak.
 

vernon

Harder than Ronnie Pickering
Location
Meanwood, Leeds
Bigtallfatbloke said:
Ok I know there is no perfect answer, except heading for a laundrette or a YH with a drying room...but are there any tips out there on how to dry off wet gear in a tent when it's pissing down outside?

You can only make the clothes less wet. You'll never dry them. The high absorbency camping towels will remove excess moisture from wet clothing if they are wrapped around the clothing and wrung out.

I cope with rain by wearing shorts and a few thin technical fabric layers on top with a windproof shell. Even though they will not be dry the following day after a day's riding in the wet, you'll not suffer from cold by wearing them the following day.

A decent waterproof shell and riding at an unsweaty (TM) pace is another option for staying dry.
 

Andy in Sig

Vice President in Exile
This method works. Take the most important damp things into your sleeping bag with you (obviously wring them out as much as you can first) and your body heat will dry them off overnight. Army sleeping bags have a couple of mesh pouches at chest level just for this purpose.
 
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OP
Bigtallfatbloke

Bigtallfatbloke

New Member
I remember when I was in the army cadets and we were training (read being tortured and abused) in the laske district one winter. We were soaked for days and the NCO's just kept making us sleep with the wet clothes to dry them..bloody miserable week that was...up on great Gable and sca fell in bivoacs.

I was hoping there might be some kind of miracle paper that could be placed under your sleep mat and th eclothes sandwiched between it and the mat...like blotting paper but more resiliant and light weight....but then i realised I already carry a sports towel...hmm...
 

asterix

Comrade Member
Location
Limoges or York
Andy in Sig said:
This method works. Take the most important damp things into your sleeping bag with you (obviously wring them out as much as you can first) and your body heat will dry them off overnight. Army sleeping bags have a couple of mesh pouches at chest level just for this purpose.


That method is the one I use if necessary. It's surprising how warm you can be sharing a bag with wet things! The only item I wouldn't wear if wet is my cycling shorts.
 

Abitrary

New Member
vernon said:
You can only make the clothes less wet. You'll never dry them. The high absorbency camping towels will remove excess moisture from wet clothing if they are wrapped around the clothing and wrung out.

I cope with rain by wearing shorts and a few thin technical fabric layers on top with a windproof shell. Even though they will not be dry the following day after a day's riding in the wet, you'll not suffer from cold by wearing them the following day.

A decent waterproof shell and riding at an unsweaty (TM) pace is another option for staying dry.

That works both ways. You can also make the environment in which you're drying it out in less dry
 
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