Skunked Tent. How to clean?

tomato juice! After that you might try some Dr. B peppermint to get rid of the tomato juice smell or next time you might have an angry hung over bear looking for his bloody marry.

Thanks Ross,

The tent has been juiced and V8'd (sorry for the stupid 'verbing' of the brand name) but skunk funk hangs around for a seemingly interminable amount of time. Actually, the Mythbusters tv show found that enzymatic cleaners like Mirazyme from McNett ( http://www.rei.com/product/694530) are the very best, and Nature's Miracle Skunk Odor Remover ( http://www.epinions.com/review/Nature_s_Miracle_Skunk_Odor_Remover_32oz/content_162703380100) for your dog, who probably started the whole thing by chasing down the skunk – but I'm just wondering if the leftover funk will come out using a low concentration enzyme bath…or if I should go big and spend a few hours with it in the shower along with Oxi-wash or similar…

I hope you don't have to go through any roadblocks.

Mirazyme from McNett works wonders for me on the (grown) kids ice hockey gear as well as my camping gear and kayaking gear. It doesn't take much Mirazyme but I do let it soak for 1/2 hour.

Fortunately for me, I don't know how much it would take for direct hit skunk odor but, I'd be willing to bet that it would eventually get rid of it!

A whole bottle of Mirazyme is cheaper than replacing the gear!

Another vote for Mirazyme! That stuff rocks!! I've never had to remove skunk odor, but last year one of my dogs decided to "mark" one of my tents that was airing out in the backyard after a trip. Getting the smell out of the fabric was easy, however getting the smell out of the webbing was a huge pain. I ended up having to treat it three times before it came out. (The last time I used undiluted Mirazyme) Hopefully, the skunk didn't manage to hit any of the webbing on your tent.

Ryan

Ryan, Michael,

Thanks for the responses. Procured 3 bottles of Mirazyme today. I still have quite a bit of skunk-funky gear (Thermarests, duffel, etc) but in the end REI came through and replaced the tent today – I had simply asked them to sell me a new rainfly (that was shocking and I tossed it) however they couldn't, and for some reason in the interests of good customer service they took a return and replace. I can't speak highly enough of them. I'll reply with the results of the Mirazyme action on the rest of the gear soon. :-)

Thanks!

Nick

Nick:

REI sets the standard for customer service. Their prices are often higher than others, but when I buy from them, I know they will always stand behind their products — well beyond the call of duty!

Best of luck de-skunkifying your gear. And welcome to the forum!

Well folks,

The dunking in McNett's Mirazyme is done. I'm now going to sound off like a McNett sales rep (and I swear to whatever you believe in that I'm not). I couldn't possibly recommend McNett's Mirazyme highly enough. I just soaked my tent's footprint, my North Face duffel (ok, we were car-camping this time), my dog's jacket, and sprayed down my Thermarests (x2) with the same solution. I can't smell ANYTHING of skunk at all and the stuff hasn't even dried yet.

The Mirazyme solution I used was about 2oz in approx 20 gallons of tepid water in my bathtub.

If skunk odor ever happens to your gear, I would say THIS is your solution once you get home.

@ Benjamin Tang: mate, you're so right about REI. Another company I can't currently recommend highly enough. Shouts out to Mick at the San Francisco city store for not only following up with a phone call when he said he would, but also arranging the return and replace.