Storing Sporting/Outdoor Equipment

[monkeywrangler71]

Where do you store sports or outdoor activity (like camping) gear? I find these things tend to smell and I don't like to keep them near general living areas - but at the same time I don't like having them in the basement or garage because they get damp and start to smell even worse.

I actually ended up throwing my hockey gear in the garbage a few years ago because the smell was so awful.

[mek42]

Dry this sort of stuff outside in the sun before putting it to storage should help. If we come home from camping in the rain, we set up or at least hang the tent outside to dry it out.

We have a dry basement, so I'm not sure this is overly helpful.

[MomToTwoBoys]

I also second the idea of drying the items out in the sun before storing them. We don't have any sports stuff but when I did sports as a kid (and in the Marine Corps), I'd leave stuff outside to air it out and then stick something inside of it to help keep it fresh smelling. You can stick a Bounce dryer sheet inside of things like hockey skates, sneakers, equipment bags, etc.