Tuesday 26 May 2009

10 Quick Tent Tips that work!

One of our customers just came in and helped give out much of his wisdom on tents, putting them and keeping them up, here's just a few of them:

1) Pegs should go into the ground at a 45 degree angle away from the tent. Pretty obvious but the amount of tents we've seen come loose in windy gales has come down to just badly positioned tent pegs.

2) Limit your tent's exposure to Ultra Violet by camping as much as you can in the shade. UV is what kills a tent in time.

3) Keep the plastic lids off any Pringles. Sewn in ground sheets can get pierced and damaged by table and camping chair legs, place the lids underneath them to spread the weight. GREAT TIP!

4) New tent? Add coloured tape to code the tent poles to help working out what goes where next time you put it up.

5) Take your new tent and put it up in the garden (if space). Practise a few times taking it down and putting it up till you are confident, better learning at home than in a gale on a rainy campsite!

6) Try to purchase a tent that pitches outside first, nothing worse than a soaking wet inner.

7) In bad weather really make sure that none of your tent's inner or outer skins are touching, if it is try to find a better spot out of the wind. If thats not possible turn the side of the tent with the largest space gap between the outer and inner into the wind.

8)Remember that camping near a river is lovely but check you're not on a flood plain with a river that can quickly rise and burst its banks.

9)Clean your tent of mud (and other detriment) when you get home and put it out to dry. Storing a damp tent will quickly lead to its early demise.

10) Having the biggest/lightest/most technical tent does not make you a hardcore adventurer. Many tents are available at a great price, don't spend hundreds on a tent if you never intend to take it up a serious mountain, its not worth the price.

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