Drying Out Your Tent

(hard with many 4 season double walled tents)

Every time, every time, every time, you go camping no matter how dry it seemed when you packed it up- your tent should be dried. You do this by finding a dry patch of ground and pitching your tent in the sun for just enough time to dry it. Carefully dry your rain fly in the same way.

photo by Mcoughlin

Brush it out

Packing your tent up for any amount of time should be as clean as possible. Last thing you'll need in a few weeks is to open your tent and find some baby spiders crawling around in it or worse- holes. Brush it out with a camp brush or lift your freestanding tent above your head (carefully) and shake it.

What to do when you have a hole in your tent

There's the cowboy way- duct tape and there's the proper way- a tent repair kit.

Seam sealer

When you first purchase your tent it doesn't hurt to start things off right and seal the seams with a good seam sealer. I recommend this one. Periodically, depending on use, but at least once a year you should reseal the seams.

photo by ehoyer

Resealing floor

Some floors are prone to a sort of delamination, even with a ground cloth. Most tent floors are made of a more durable material and have extra coating to prevent ground dampness from seeping in. Sometimes if your tent isn't properly dried, and sometimes for hardly any reason at all, the floor can start to delaminate. This is a good product to recoat the floor with.

What to do when you get mold

Double walled four season tents get moldy the fastest. It is crucial to prevent mold with proper drying after every use, but sometimes the mold just happens.

I haven't tried this particular remedy, but I've heard great things about it for removing mold- 1 part lemon juice, 1 part salt, and 1 galloon hot water. Brush on tent, let dry in sun, and rinse clean.

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