Camping - Looking After Your Tent

When camping, your tent is your home and, like your house, on a camping holiday it needs looking after to keep you safe, warm and dry. At the end of the season most people who enjoy camping put their tents away for the winter. Winterising correctly will save a lot of work and expense at the start of the next season. Most of the information here also relates to awnings. If you are one of the hardy ones who enjoy a family camping holiday at any time of year, some tender loving care will be well worth the effort to keep one of your major items of camping equipment in good health. Tents incorporate a number of different materials, all of which can suffer in use. Apart from accidental damage, the fabrics can deteriorate if not looked after. Waterproofing is just one maintenance job that you will have to do to keep your tent in good condition.

Packing up

The most important part of packing up on the camp site is to ensure you have packed everything this includes pegs. Camp site operators are not pleased when their mowers encounter tent pegs left in the ground. Knock or wipe off the worst of the mud from the pegs. If necessary wash them in a bucket of water and dry thoroughly. Before folding the ground sheet, or if it is sewn into the tent, turn it over to dry. It will almost certainly be damp even if you have been camping in dry conditions. Carefully collect and pack sections of poles in the correct bag. If guylines are detachable from the tent, coil them neatly and pack. If attached, as is the usual case with small tents, coil them into hanks or lay them loosely on the tent material before folding the tent.

Back home

The first thing to do when you return home from an enjoyable camping holiday is to spread or hang the tent including the flysheet, if there is one somewhere to air and dry thoroughly. Remember that all tent materials, whether cotton, light or heavy canvas, or synthetics such as nylon, can suffer if packed away damp. The fabric and thread used to sew seams can be ruined by mildew, which is encouraged by warm damp conditions. Carefully check the ground sheet, bottoms of walls, and places where there is extra thickness of material such as strengthening patches, for damage. As well as cleaning your pegs, straighten bent pegs ready for next time. Do this by squeezing them in a vice or tapping them with a hammer. Replace missing pegs and get a few spare to suit various ground conditions. Check the poles for damage, particularly at the joints. Where sections are joined by shock cord or spring links, make sure these are in good order. Sockets and end ferrules are often liable to come loose and can be lost. Finally, check guylines for fraying or loose knots, and check all attachment loops and/or rings. Deal with defects as soon as possible or they will be forgotten until you next pitch your tent on a camp site when it's too late!

The season's end

If you regularly check your tent each time you return from campsites, there should be few problems to deal with before packing it away for the winter. There are, however, a few things worth considering from time-to-time and certainly before 'laying-up' for the next camping season. Think about any repairs, such as replacing missing rings or hooks, getting extra pegs and renewing worn guylines. Although winter is the time you should do your repairs, many camping shops run down their stocks during winter. Buy what you want sooner rather than later. If the tent or flysheet is dirty sponge with clean water. If water doesn't remove the dirt you can obtain specialist cleaners from suppliers such as Nikwax or Granger's. Both companies will advise you on the best product to use. Whatever you do, do not use any detergent on the tent fabric as this will destroy the waterproofing. After cleaning check and repair any small tears, and if necessary reproof the tent. Examine seams for 'pulling'. Repair and treat with a seamsealing product. Carefully inspect sewn-in groundsheets for small holes. These should be repaired with adhesive patches. Pay particular attention to tapes, loops and toggles used for tying back doors. Examine mesh panels over ventilators and doors for tears and repair or replace as necessary. Check eyelets, any pole spikes, and hooks and loops used for suspending flysheets for damage. Rubber rings and guy attachments will perish over time and may need replacing. Check all zips for damage and make sure sliders move freely. A proprietary zip lubricant or rubbed-in candle wax will free stiff zips. If guylines show signs of wear replace them. Make sure the runners are correctly fitted and that the knots are secure. Lines on nylon tents/flysheets must be nylon braid. Avoid polypropylene cord if possible. Canvas and cotton tents should have hemp guys and not nylon. Ensure all pegs are clean and straight. Dry steel pegs to avoid rust. Never store the pegs in the same bag as the tent and flysheet in case they damage the fabric. Alloy poles and pegs can acquire a white surface deposit due to corrosion. On poles, this may cause the joints to stick. Apply a very light coat of silicone polish to prevent this it will also help poles to slip through pole sleeves. Pack steel poles and frame sections dry and free from damage. Do not use oil or grease on poles as it will damage the tent fabric. Check glass reinforced plastic poles for splitting and replace if necessary. Pay particular attention to pole ferrules, spikes and links. Where necessary, replace springs and shock cords. If you have wooden poles the main problem apart from splitting or splinters lies with the joints. Damp wood swells and jams in the metal sleeves. Rubbing down the diameter of the wood with sandpaper can free the joint, but do not overdo this or it will become too loose when dry. Small diameter wooden pole joints can be eased by rubbing the joint with graphite from a lead pencil. To make assembly easier especially after dark identify each joint with a unique mark using spots of paint, indelible waterproof marker pens or adhesive tape on each of the poles. When everything is checked, completely dry and repaired, store the tent and flysheet in a dry place safely away from attack by insects or mice. Fold the tent carefully and place in the bags supplied, keeping the poles and pegs separate. Try to avoid folding nylon tents and flysheets along the same lines every time. Finally, never store a tent in a plastic sack or bin liner.

All these early preperations will stand you in good stead for next seasons camping, and a great camping holiday.