If you go camping regularly then your tent is the most important piece of equipment you use. Without it you can’t go camping! So keeping your tent in good order is really important. Often people forget about their camping equipment until they plan to use it but if you don’t put it away properly then you could be in for a shock the next time you set it up.

Last year we went camping and it rained and rained and we had to put the tent away wet. Even after returning home it was 2 weeks before the sun finally came out again so that we could properly dry the tent out. Since our tent is big we didn’t have the room indoors to set it out to dry. Therefore we knew that after 2 weeks we might have a problem on our hands.

Unfortunately there was already mildew on some parts of the canvas but the worst thing was that the windows had become opaque in patches. Its all very well when manufacturers tell you to dry the tent as soon as possible before rolling it up but sometimes that just isn’t possible.

I looked on the internet for information and found that the mildew could be removed by gently sponge with warm water and dishwashing liquid. Since mildew can be potentially harmful I made sure to wear a face mask so that I didn’t breathe in any spores.

Here are a few more tent care tips to extent the life of your tent:-

• Always use mild soap when cleaning your tent as you don’t want to damage the waterproof coating.
• Don’t store your tent in a closed bag for long periods of time. If you aren’t planning on using it one year still get it out so that it can be aired. This can avoid dry rot.
• If you have a canvas tent make sure you treat it with waterproofing spray at least once every 2 years.
• Check your storage bag for any little bugs that might have made a home in there. We sometimes find spider eggs inside – when they burst hundreds of tiny spiders come out!
• Be careful where you pack your tent pegs and in particular your tent peg puller if you have one. They can easily damage the tent fabric and causing a leak.
• Regularly wash your tent floor with a detergent to remove stubborn dirt and keep it clean.

As for the windows of our tent, there was nothing we could do about that which is a real shame. Apparently if you pack up tents so that any plastic windows lie on top of each other if they are wet a reaction takes place on the plastic causing a smoky pattern to appear (window turns opaque).

We now pack the tent up differently if it is wet so that windows are not in contact with each other and if the weather stays bad once we are home we leave the tent out of the bag and open it as much is possible with the limited space we have indoors.