A Guide to Caring for Your Tent

A tent is an expensive outlay, be sure to take good care of it, by following the tips in our handy guide.

Top Tips:

• Always check your tent before a major outing. This is one of the critical pieces of advice many campers ignore.
• The first thing to do if you have purchased a new tent or awning, is check the tent for defects or missing parts. This applies regardless of whether the product is brand new out of the factory or second-hand. There’s nothing worse than turning up to the campsite, and suffering embarrassment of a missing pole, or something vital to the tent’s construction.
• Register the warranty of your tent or awning if applicable, with the manufacturer.

Checklist for Checking over Your Tent:

1. Tent Pegs - Check all the tent pegs are present and in good working order. Pegs are easily bent in use, so its a good idea to check they are all in good condition before embarking on a camping adventure. Also check the pegs you have are suitable for the occasion, most tents come with basic pegs, its always worth upgrading to stronger products, especially in windy or boggy conditions. Further to this, if you are on hard standing pitches, you will need Rock Pegs.
2. Poles or Air Tubes - depending on what type of tent you have opted for - its a good idea to check the poles or air tubes are in good working order. With tent poles, they can be assembled to check there’s no obvious damage, or missing poles. With Air tubes, they need to be inflated for a period to ensure they are not leaking air. Its always worth having a spare pole or tube with you on any camping trip, incase an emergency repair is required.
3. Zips - check all the zips are operational and working as they should, to ensure the tent is protected from the weather.
4. Guylines - check all guy lines are in good working order, and present. Most tents have very simple guy lines, which are very easy to replace in the event they fray or become worn over time. All good camping stores will sell spare guylines.
5. Check any groundsheets - any sewn-in or optional groundsheets, such as the tent groundsheet, footprint groundsheet or protectors, should all be checked to ensure they are clean, dry and ready for use. On new tents, a common fault can be a small hole in the groundsheet, which is caused during manufacturing. So be sure to check a new tent for this error, though it is rare.

Best Practice Guidelines

Owning a tent or awning does come with a duty of care, and it is important to look after your tent to maximise the lifetime of the tent. Part of an owners remit should be the following:

1. Always have some seam sealant with you - most leaking tents, are a result of worn / missed taped seams. This is incredibly easy to fix by adding some sealant to a leaking tent seam.
2. Reproof the outer canvas every 12-24 months (depending on frequency of the tent’s usage.) Tents like everything, wear down over time - adding some re-proofer to the tent is like treating an old waterproof jacket. It will help the tent keep waterproof, and also slow the effect of UV degradation.
3. Always pack the tent away dry - this will stop any mould, mildew and smells building up whilst the tent is in storage.
4. Store the tent in a cool, dry place away from anywhere mice might have access. (How to Store your tent)

Register the Warranty If Applicable:

• Register the warranty with the manufacturer, if applicable, as it will cover more parts of the tent, and in some cases - extend the warranty time.
• Vango offer a 3rd year of warranty free, if you register the warranty on their site.
• Outdoor Revolution cover the Air Tubes for life, if you register the tent within 7 days.

Optional Extras:

You might notice that there are plenty of optional accessories for your tent. The most vital accessory is a footprint groundsheet, otherwise known as a groundsheet protector. This is a key piece of kit, and I cannot recommend highly enough to purchase a matching footprint for your product.

1. Use a footprint where possible.
2. Check the optional accessories are readily available for future purchase. You might want to be able to get optional extras later on in life, such as additional inner tents or the tent carpet.