Why does nobody talk about drying sleeping bags right after a trip

Last fall I was camping up near Flagstaff and it rained for two days straight. My buddy Dave had this old synthetic bag that got soaked through. He just hung it up in his garage when we got back and forgot about it for like a week. When he pulled it out for the next trip it had this musty smell that never really went away. I told him he should have tossed it in the dryer on low with a couple tennis balls to fluff the insulation back up. He looked at me like I was speaking another language but tried it anyway. Worked way better than he expected and now he does it after every wet trip. Has anyone else had a bag get ruined from just air drying too slow?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_richard1mo agoMost Upvoted

Why do people act like waiting for a bag to air dry is going to turn it into a moldy mess? I've dried synthetic bags hanging in my basement for years, sometimes a couple days, and never had a problem with smell or insulation. A little low heat in the dryer probably works fine, but tumbling insulation around unnecessarily risks damaging the fibers way more than letting nature do its thing.

nancy38d ago

Wait, are we supposed to be impressed by your basement's perfect humidity levels or something? I've got a buddy who swears by air drying his bag in his garage too, but his garage is in Arizona where it's basically a desert furnace. He leaves it out there for a day and it's bone dry. Meanwhile I tried that same trick here in the Pacific Northwest where it's always damp, and after three days my bag still felt wet and cold. It started smelling like a wet dog that rolled in mildew. I had to toss it in the dryer on low just to save it from getting ruined. So yeah, air drying works great if you've got the perfect conditions, but most of us don't live in that world.

shah.barbara1mo ago

The real issue nobody mentions is what happens when you air dry in a cold environment like a basement or garage in winter. I live in Minnesota and tried hanging a damp bag in my unheated garage after a late season trip. It took five days to dry and the insulation was still clumped up in spots. By the time it dried the loft was shot and it never bounced back. Low heat in the dryer for an hour fixed my next bag no problem. The tennis ball trick is legit for fluffing but I bet a lot of ruined bags are from people thinking "room temperature" drying works in a cold house.