How to Store a Tent

In this guide, we provide further details on storing your tent, along with some valuable tips.

After reading through the article, you’ll find that keeping a tent can be a quick and easy process.

Steps in Storing Your Tent

Cleaning the Tent

After getting back from a camping trip, you might want to stow away your tent right away. But it would be best if you clean your tent first before doing so. Keeping your tent clean not only makes it pleasant to use again for your next trip but also helps make your tent last longer,

Your tent might probably be dirty after being exposed to nature. Sand, mud, tree sap, animal droppings, and other kinds of grime that stay on your tent all contribute to the deterioration of its fabric over time. First, it would be best to shake off the dirt and other debris from your tent; do this for your rainfly too. To clean your tent’s zippers, you can use a toothbrush to scrub them gently.

Next is cleaning off elements remaining on the tent fabric, such as sap, droppings, and other stains. Use cold water with mild, non-detergent soap for this. For more stubborn stains, you can use alcohol-based products, such as hand sanitizers and wet wipes, or mineral oil. Be careful not to rub too hard on the fabric, as doing so can affect the waterproofing ability of your tent.

Afterward, make sure to rinse off your tent thoroughly. For your tent poles and stakes, you can wipe them down with a damp cloth.

Drying the Tent

After your tent has been cleaned, the next step is to let it completely dry. Suppose you try storing your tent while it is still wet. In that case, the moisture can potentially damage the waterproof coating of the fabric and result in your tent losing a lot of its waterproofing ability. Also, keeping a damp tent can result in molds or mildew growing on it, which can cause a foul smell that stays on the fabric.

To avoid any of the above from happening, you should let your tent dry properly. If you have open areas such as a yard and it’s sunny outside, you can pitch your tent out. If you don’t have enough space, you can also let your tent hang indoors, such as over a chair, table, door, or handrail. Avoid putting your tent in a washer or dryer, as these are generally incompatible with each other, and your tent might end up getting damaged instead.

Choosing a Suitable Storage Area for Your Tent

Choosing a proper storage location is the most important part of keeping a tent. The place you choose should have the right conditions to keep your tent fabric in optimal condition.

First of all, your storage space should be dry to keep moisture from affecting the waterproofing of your tent and preventing the growth of molds or mildew. Also, the area should have proper temperature control so that it isn’t too hot or too cold, which might affect the condition of the tent fabric. You can store your tent in a closet, garage, the top of a cabinet, a shed, or anywhere that meets the two criteria mentioned above.

Take note to avoid storing your tent anywhere near an artificial heat source or under direct sunlight to avoid possibly irreparable damage.

Storing the Tent

Hanging

One of the easiest ways to store your tent is by hanging or draping it. Keeping your tent in this manner helps to prevent any creases or wrinkles from developing on the fabric. You can store both the tent body and the rain fly in your closet, room, garage, or anywhere you have extra space.

What is important is that your storage area is dry so that no moisture can potentially damage your tent. The space should also have a well-regulated temperature – meaning that it’s not too hot nor too cold – to help maintain the condition of your tent fabric.

Stuffing

You can also choose to stuff your tent or store it loosely. In general, tents come with stuff sacks where you can keep them, and these are great for when you’re on the go. But these kinds of storage bags are not the best for long-term storage. Stuff sacks compress the tent fabric, causing it to stretch and not allowing any breathing room.

As such, you’ll want to keep your tent in a more spacious bag. A pillowcase is an excellent example. You can stuff your tent in any old pillowcase you have, along with your rain fly, without having to roll or fold it. For your tent poles and pegs, you can slide them in along the sides of the case.

Folding

Another way you can store your tent is by folding it. An advantage of this method is that you create folds on the fabric that you can easily follow when you fold it the next time. You can easily store your folded in your room or closet.

A downside to this method is that the areas that develop creases because of repeated folding can have their waterproofing affected. As such, make sure not to make tight folds, keeping them light and loose.

Rolling

Rolling your tent is the best way to keep your tent if you don’t have enough space for storing it. First off, fold your rainfly and tent body into thirds, then stack the fly over your tent. Then, put your tent poles in their sleeves and place them at the top of the fly.

You are going to use the poles to roll the stack. Roll slowly to minimize the amount of space while also getting rid of excess air in the tent and rain fly. Finally, you can place the rolled stack in your stuff sack and keep it in your room or closet.

Storing the Tent Poles

In general, tent poles and stakes can damage your tent’s fabric easily when kept together, which is why you might want to store them separately.

Properly storing your tent poles can help increase the overall longevity of your tent since you need them to set up your tent in the first place. An essential consideration when storing poles is the shock cord that is in them. If not kept well, the cords in your tent poles might be left in constant tension. The tent cords can then become overly stretched and loose or even snap and be completely useless.

One way to reduce the tension in your poles is to keep them partially assembled when storing them. If you don’t have the space for this set-up, you can also collapse your tent poles starting from the center and working towards the ends.

A few Tips

Regularly take out your tent from storage.

Bring out your tent every three to four months when it’s not in use. Lay it out or hang it out where there is fresh air. Taking out your tent lets you inspect its condition, helps prevent mold growth, and allows it to breathe once in a while.

You can use silica gel packets to help keep your tent dry.

Silica gel packets are usually found in food products and act as drying agents, preventing moisture damage. You can place these silica packages in your tent to help keep them dry while in storage. Make sure to keep them away from children, though, as these packets are inedible and can cause harm when swallowed.

Conclusion

Properly storing your tent might seem like a hassle at first, but it is very easy to do and doesn’t take up that much time.

A significant benefit in doing so is that you help increase your tent’s lifespan.

If you enjoy camping outdoors with your tent, take the time to keep it properly so you can use it for a much longer time.