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How To Store Your Tent or Awning During Winter
With the camping season coming to an end it's important to ensure that your kit is stored correctly in the colder, off-season months to ensure it has plenty of years left at peak performance.
Choosing the right place to store is important. In this post we'll be going through our top recommendations, saving you a lot of potential grief and making sure that next summer you can whip your camping gear out as easily as when you first got it!
Our first bit of advice is to make sure that you've still got your original Khyam tent/awning box and the plastic it came wrapped in, you'll definitely need it for later.
Before you store your tent or awning
You're back from your camping trip, whether it was a quick weekend getaway, a week long trip or a 2 week mission to have the best time amongst nature, now is the time to ensure everything is in top shape. The amount of time it takes for your camping gear to dry heavily depends on what sort of condition it was brought back in.
- First, make sure your tent/awning is both clean and dry, if you can pitch your tent up in the back garden and let sunrays do their thing.
If you are spreading your tent/awning out outside it could take 1 hour, a few days or even a couple of weeks to dry depending on the weather (sunny dry day, humid day, or raining). Make sure you properly check your tent/awning before deciding to fold it away.
- For any dirt it should be possible to just drybrush dirt off once the tent/awning has properly dried before putting away.
- Once the tent/awning is dry ensure that you fold it away correctly as per the instructional video included with your tent, (QR code, or found on website here) to then put it back in it's bag.
- Put your tent bag back into the plastic provided with your tent/awning when you first got it, then snuggly slip it into the Khyam delivery box.
Now you should be ready to store your tent, depending on where you choose to store it there are different things you should consider :
Storing tents or awnings in the shed
We know that this is probably the easiest and most convenient place to want to store your tent, however it is one that we would not recommend due to the following reasons:
- A shed environment would be exposed to the elements with freezing temperatures in the colder months, changes in humidity inviting moisture and mould, with the warmer months of spring and summer increasing the temperature, any moisture created on the tent/awning will cause it to "sweat".
- Critters such as mice are possible visitors in our outdoor sheds, there are also bugs that are able to crawl around and potentially cause damage to your tent/awnings either by slowly eating at the fabrics or leaving residue.
- The base of your shed could potentially invite unwanted moisture to crawl up your tent box or material.
- Your shed will not be a steady temperature, this could cause other parts of the tent such as the TPU plastic to degrade as it expands and contracts aggressively if there is a sudden change of temperature from one day to the next.
If you don't have the option of alternative storage methods we'd urge you to put your tent box on a raised surface such as a pallet or high strength shelving to keep your tent box off the ground and away from the things mentioned above.
Storing tents or awnings in the garage
A garage attached to your house would be a much more recommended place of storage, still ensuring that it is raised off the ground by keeping it on a pallet or a extra strong raised shelf unit to protect it from unwanted little visitors that could be crawling around.
Make sure to keep it in a part of the garage that has the highest chance of staying in a temperature controlled part of your garage. This could mean having it close to a door that leads to the inside of the household, and ensuring your garage has partial insulation to keep a steady temperature in both hot and cold spells.
Outdoor disconnected garages could be prone to the same issues as outdoor sheds with a large chance of attracting moisture, critters and sudden temperature changes.
Storing tents or awnings in the attic/loft
This method of storage is only really accessible if you've purchased a smaller tent/awning or are looking to store individual accessories which would be light enough to lift safely.
An attic/loft will already have insulation keeping the temperature more steady, with heat rising from the household in winter months, though it should be noted that if the underside of your roof is not insulated it could lead to very warm temperatures in the summer months.
Other places to store your camping gear
Utility Rooms
For those that have one, one of the best places to store your tent would be in a in-house utility room that has enough space and is not right next to any machines that could introduce moisture such as washing machines or clothes dryers.
Spare Rooms
If you have a spare room in the home in which your tent can be put away into a storage chest, on the floor or on extra strength shelving. Keep in mind that our heaviest tents/awnings weigh 67kg. Meaning that this CANNOT go on standard shelving spaces.
Wardrobe Spaces
For smaller tents/awnings and accessories it may be possible to keep them stored in large wardrobe spaces, this is a great option if available and we'd again recommend this with the added discretion that heavier tents can and will weigh heavily on any shelves and floor spaces, so make sure everything is correctly secured for weights up to, and more than 67kg.
