Caring for Your Tent

A little care is all your tent asks. Treated well, a quality tent should deliver years of service and reliable performance.

On the Trail

• When selecting your setup spot, look for an established campsite with a smooth, level surface. Clear away debris (pine cones, twigs, small rocks) that could not only poke in you the back, but poke a hole in the floor of your tent.
• Use a ground cloth or "footprint" (a ground cloth custom-cut by the manufacturer for your tent) to protect the bottom of your tent floor from abrasion. Added bonus: In the morning, it gives you a clean spot where you can fold and roll your tent.
• When you climb inside your tent, leave your boots or camp footwear (and all the debris clinging to them) outside or in the vestibule.
• The sun's ultraviolet rays (UVA and UVB) can cause nylon to deteriorate quickly. If your campsite offers little or no shade during the day, cover your tent with its rainfly. The rainfly's urethane coating helps it hold up better under the sun's glare.
• If your tent is a freestanding model, pick it up and shake out debris each morning before you pack it away. Pick up any trash that falls out and pack it out.
• If you forget or lose your stakes, use smooth rocks to anchor the tent's corners, either on the outside or inside. If it's windy, your only option may be to put them inside the tent.
• If your tent is equipped with shock-corded poles, resist the temptation to whip them around to cause the sections to "snap" together. It's fun, yes, but all that snapping could chip the section fittings and weaken the poles. It's smarter to fit the sections together one at a time by hand.
• When disassembling a tent, first separate a shock-corded pole in the middle. That helps ease tension on the entire cord while it is stored.
• When packing a tent, don't fold the tent or rainfly fabric on the same crease lines time after time. Over the years those creases could become permanent and might grow brittle as the tent ages. Fold a tent in different places each time you pack it up, even if you're just moving the fold by a couple of inches.

At Home

• Before taking a tent to a campground or into the backcountry, first set it up at home to become acquainted with its assembly process in a no-pressure setting. A practice setup also allows you to confirm that you that you have all of a tent's stakes, guylines and accessories.
• When you store a tent, make sure it is dry. That's dry, Dry, DRY. No tent-care rule is more important. If you leave a tent wet, even damp, for a prolonged period of time, you are inviting mildew to overtake it. After a trip, unpack your tent and inspect it for dampness. If you detect even a trace, set it up in a shady spot (a garage, for instance) and let it air dry. If you have the space, store it loosely outside of its stuff sack. Avoid storing it in damp basements or hot attics.
• Note: This keep-it-dry rule applies on the trail, too. If it's raining when you break camp and you must pack your tent wet, look for an opportunity during the day—ideally, during a breakthrough of sun—when you can dry it out.
• To clean a tent, use a non-abrasive sponge and gently scrub soiled areas by hand. Use cold water and a non-detergent soap. Avoid dishwashing liquid, bleach, spot removers or laundry pre-soaking products. Rinse thoroughly, then set it up in a shady spot and let it air dry completely.
• Machine-washing a tent is strongly discouraged. If placed in a traditional top-loading washing machine, the back-and-forth churning of a washer's central-axis agitator could snag the tent and overstretch it or even pull apart its seams. In a front loader, the constant tossing and spinning could potentially wear off waterproof coatings. Machine-drying a tent is never an option; too much heat could cause the material to distort or melt.

Seams and Waterproofing

• Nearly every backpacking tent, and most family camping tents, come with the seams on their floors and rainflys factory-sealed. Seam tape is used to plug the tiny holes created by sewing needles when fabric sections are stitched together. One exception to this rule exists: ultralight tents that use silicone-treated nylon. Why? Seam tape does not bond to silicone.
• Any tent seam that is exposed to moisture and is not factory-sealed must be sealed manually using seam sealer, a liquid or glue-like product often sold in a tube with a needlenose or brush-on applicator. Follow directions on the product, and seal seams prior to camping in the tent away from home. Typically, seam sealer should be applied to the shiny side of the floor or rainfly. The shininess indicates a waterproof urethane coating has been applied to that side. Seam sealer should also be used to plug seam leaks that sometimes emerge on a heavily used tent that originally had its seams sealed at the factory.
• Well-worn tents may also need to have the waterproofness of their floors or rainflys rejuvenated. Use a spray-on or brush-on product designed to restore waterproofness. At REI.com, search for products from McNett, Nikwax or Granger's. Select a spray-on or brush-on product when a tent is involved. Some wash-in products exist, but it is never a good idea to put a tent into a washing machine.
• A few specialized, single-wall tents are constructed with a waterproof/breathable fabric. If you own one, select a spray-on or brush-on product designed to restore a high level of water-repellency (not total waterproofness) to such fabrics.

Removing Mildew

Mildew can develop any time your tent is stored wet. It looks bad, smells bad and can damage your tent's waterproof coatings. DON'T LET IT START. Alas, if it already exists, here's one way to approach it:

• Try some light scrubbing with a sponge during a regular cleaning session.
• If it's still apparent, mix one-half cup of Lysol® in 1 gallon of hot water.
• Dip a sponge in this solution use it to lightly but thoroughly scrub mildew-afflicted areas.
• Set up the tent and allow it to air dry.
• Then, mix 1 cup of salt and 1 cup of concentrated lemon juice with 1 gallon of hot water.
• Rub the solution into the visible mildew and once again, allow the tent to dry.

This procedure will stop mildew growth and eliminate the odor, but will not remove the stain.

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