10 Quick Tent Maintenance Tips.
Camping tent maintenance is the key to keeping your equipment in the best shape for as long as possible. Try these 10 tent and gear tips... 1. This first tip is pretty obvious, one of the most important tent maintenance ideas you can follow through with is to clean and sweep your tent. Sand and dirt that get between the fabric layers can wear material very quickly. Clean it up and you don't give it much of a chance to wear. 2. Remove your footwear and leave it outside underneath your rainfly or on a mat just inside your tent door. This will save your tent floor from an amazing amount of abrasive girt and will help keep cleaning to a minimum. If you decide to leave your footwear outside under the rainfly just be sure to look inside your hiking boots or hiking shoes before you put them on to check for any critters that may have wandered into them looking for a new home. 3. Remove sap and bird droppings as soon as you notice them. Both can cause premature camping tent wear if they're not taken care of. Bird droppings usually can be removed easily with a damp paper towel or a little water. Tree sap can be a little trickier the longer it sets. Have a look at the related tent maintenance articles on How to remove tree sap from a camping tent or how to clean a tent if you need them. 4. I've been really fortunate with tent maintenance on my current tent and have never sealed the seams because it's done really well in the rain, but it's still a good idea to check it from time to time. Even though newer quality tents come with taped seams, some manufacturers still suggest that you seal the seams. I recommend testing your tent with a garden hose a few days before your first camping trip of the season. That way if you find any leaks you can seal the seams and let it dry per directions (usually a few to 12 hours or more depending on the product, temperature and humidity) before leaving for your trip. Tent maintenance sure beats waking up at 3 a.m. soaked to the gills. 5. Like any hiking equipment, make repairs and fix tears as soon as possible, otherwise they'll only get worse and end up costing you more time and money. All tent maintenance really is, is taking care of things as they happen and avoiding predictable future problems as much as possible. Take care of your camping gear (think of it as life support equipment, because you never know when it might be) and it will take care of you.
Wash-ins combined with spray on protectant will usually work better than a spray on alone. If that's too much of a hassle the spray on alone is still better than nothing. Also, try to avoid getting the products on nylon friction cinch straps and the like because it can make them slippery and they won't hold as well. If you have a tent that breathes like Gore-tex use either Nikwax TX Direct Wash In Waterproof Nikwax makes some of the best quality fabric treatment and tent maintenance products, as long as you've got realistic expectations. In other words expect them to make your fabrics more water repellant, but don't expect them to magically transform worn-out beat-up tents or gear into something resembling "brand-new" that will be good-to-go for another ten years. Realistically you should expect a temporary rejuvenation that depending on use will last a few months or so, at which time you could apply it again or look towards investing in new gear. Keep in mind the protective barrier is only about a molecule thick, so rougher use will mean the protection will wear off more quickly. Also... Keep in mind trying to waterproof something that was poorly designed or only designed to be water resistant is setting yourself up for disappointment. If you want waterproof gear then make sure it's engineered well from the start. My first pup tent definitely fit into the water loving category, as every raindrop that hit the roof splattered through inside and turned into 20 smaller penetrating droplets. Needless to say I never used it again. After that experience I moved on to higher quality tents. 7. Always air dry your tent thoroughly after you use it, as part of your tent maintenance program to avoid mold and mildew. If you've ever been in a friends tent that smells a little funky, or had dark streaks or spots, it's probably because it was stored damp. Don't let it happen to your tent. Let it dry thoroughly and check double-thickness areas like seams, which due to the extra material take longer to dry. 8. Replace any tent stakes as they go missing or get bent, and have a few extra on hand. Why go through the frustration of not having what you need to do the job right when a little tent maintenance can take care of an issue before it becomes a full-blown problem? Besides, substituting sticks for stakes doesn't work that well and can leave your tent flapping in the wind at the worst possible time. And it seems 3 a.m. in bad weather happens to be that time. ;-) 9. Immediately clean dirty zippers. Dirty zippers can wear over time causing them to fail or not close properly (i.e. the zipper stays open even after you've zipped it). If your zipper sticks or grabs check first to make sure it's not catching on any material or loose string. If there's nothing getting caught in the zipper you can try rubbing a little candle wax or soap up and down the zipper to help lubricate it. If you pull the zipper and the teeth don't stay closed behind it you can try this temporary tent maintenance quick fix to hopefully get you through until you can have the zipper or slider replaced... First move the slider to the bottom of the zipper. Using a pair of adjustable pliers gently squeeze the slider from the top and bottom (inside to outside, not side to side) alternating from left to right until the zipper works correctly. In other words, gently squeeze the right side and then the left and test. If it still doesn't close properly try squeezing it gently again and repeat. It's better to do this several times gently to avoid pinching or breaking your zipper. From my experience sliders can be pretty fragile, so the less you bend them the better. 10. Use a tent footprint to minimize abrasive floor wear and to keep it as dry as possible. Spending the extra $30 or so on a footprint goes a long way toward good tent maintenance. It's a lot less expensive than having to replace your floor and/or your tent prematurely. If you're looking for a new
camping tent, here's what to look for as well as some reviews.
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