Recently acquired a used tent to use for some car camping and as a second. Cabela’s Alaskan Guide 4p to be exact. If was very cheap so I thought it was worth a shot. It has been wet and not stored properly. It does not appear to have any major mold issues but does have that wet mildew tent smell. Some internet searching has provided some options for cleaners but I seem to get mixed reports of soaking in a tub/sink. Anyone have any experience with this? I am worried about getting back dry after fully submersing. I can setup in my non heated garage but here in KY not likely to get and real warm sunny days for a couple months. Thoughts for care from here?

Winter is a time of low humidity, good for drying. You can store it loosely folded, once it’s dry, until you get some good sun. You need to kill the mold/mildew sooner rather than later.

rcr1983: " It does not appear to have any major mold issues but does have that wet mildew tent smell. Thoughts for care from here? "

First nice tent. I have the 6 person version for car camping.

I have used mirazyme now called revivex to remove the mildew smell from a surplus canvas back pack. This thing needed at least 2 soaks in the mirazayme. With the time I have into it, it would probably have been cheaper to buy a new pack.

As far as drying it, the tent is designed to be quick drying. I would think hanging it up on a line or drying rack in the garage (as long as temps are above freezing), it would dry quick enough. You could also use a house fan to dry it even quicker.

Washed a few in my time usually with a Revive X or Nikwax wash in the, tub rinsing several times and setting up in the garage or outside if possible. They dry fast even in a closed space.
It's also a good time to spray fresh DWR on the clean but wet fly.

butthead

I've used mold remover bought at an RV dealer on one of my old tents that had the same issue. It was a canvas tent though and the cleaner was for canvas. It got rid of the mildew but it was a lot of work with toothbrushes to work it all in.

I had some hockey gear stored under the stairs in a hockey bag one winter and everything was full of mold and mildew spots by the next season. Obviously I didn't dry stuff out enough. I thought I ruined all that expensive equipment. I took it to the dry cleaners and they said they can run it in one of their machines and see how it turns out. The stuff came back looking almost new. No mildew spots and it all smelled fresh. I was really impressed. Maybe they can do that to the tent.

The sooner you get rid of mould, the better for you.