-Johannes Steudel

Getting out into the wilderness on a rainy or snowy day can be a fantastic experience. Trails that you’ve done 100 times before can seem new and pose different challenges in wet conditions.

It’s all fun and games until you get home, shut off your vehicle, close everything up after a long day on the trail, and head inside to relax when you realize the inside of your car is soaking wet. The next day when you open your car door and are hit with an odd smell of something along the lines of a wet dog, with moisture built up inside the vehicle and fogged up windows, you’ll wish you had followed these easy steps!

Keeping the inside of your vehicle dry during winter months or a prolonged wet season can be tricky. To no ones surprise, the idea to write this article came from my own experiences of having a continuously wet interior for days after an adventure. I found that winter time is the worst because you continually track snow into the vehicle every time you get in/out, and it doesn’t get warm enough outside to help with the drying process. When you simply turn on the heater inside your vehicle, it only becomes warm enough to melt the snow and keep you warm while you’re driving around. Unfortunately, this is not sufficient when it comes to actually drying the vehicles carpets and seats.

I’ve laid out a few tips to get the inside of your vehicle bone-dry to prevent mold and other unwanted organisms from flourishing. The whole objective of this process is to reduce the amount of moisture and humidity inside the car.

Prevent Moisture from accumulating in the first place
-To prevent a wet interior in the first place, its a good idea to get a good set of rubber floor mats specifically designed for your vehicle! They’ll keep moisture out of the carpets and are easy to clean.

-Brush off as much snow or water as you can before getting in the vehicle.

Step 1:
Remove all wet equipment from the vehicle.

It may seem like and obvious step, but I have forgotten to remove articles of wet equipment on several occasions after returning home. When the water evaporates off of the equipment, it will have nowhere to go and wreak havoc to your interior. Common pieces of gear that get wet are the things that you use outside of the vehicle, like camp equipment and recovery gear.

Step 2:
Let the car completely warm up.

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Before you put the fan on high, it’s important that the air being blown is nice and warm. Let the vehicle naturally warm up to operating temperature in order to get the hot air to do the trick.

Step 3:
Turn up the heat and crank the fan to MAX.

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Once the vehicle is warm, set the lever to head/feet or windshield/feet for best results. Don’t forget, your vehicle may have a fan for the rear seats. Use this to your drying power advantage!

Step 4:
Put the recirculation lever or button to the middle selection.

For the best outcome, you want a small amount of fresh air entering into the cabin along with air being recirculated. This helps introduce air that is fresh and not full of moisture. For this reason, move the lever or button between full recirculation and full fresh air. If you do not have this option, select full recirculating. There are other ways of getting fresh air into the vehicle.

Step 5:
Once your vehicle is warm, turn on the AC with the heat still on high.

Turning on the AC with the heat still on seems odd, but in combination with the heat, having the AC on acts as a dehumidifier to rid your vehicle of moisture. Keep the fan on high to keep things moving.

Step 6:
Roll all the windows down about two inches.

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Rolling the windows down a few inches is a good way to help the rest of the moisture escape the car. However, you don’t want to loose all of your heat that you’ve built up, so don’t roll them down all the way!

Step 7:
Let the vehicle idle.

Circulating the air in your vehicle and removing moisture is the most important part of this whole operation. If you cannot, or don’t want to let your vehicle idle for a period of time, complete these steps while you’re driving around town, running errands, or visit your local hardware store and pick out a small fan that you can run inside the vehicle for several hours (if you don’t already have one). This will take longer but it’s a sure method of getting the job done!

Conclusion:
There is no set amount of time to let the vehicle run for, but the longer it runs with the fans and AC on, the better your results will be!

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