The Maintenance and Storage of Camping Equipment When not in Use

Camping has become one of the best family bonding activities or as a character development for children and youths. However, what many overlook is the maintenance and storage of camping equipment during the period when they are not in use. This article shows you some tips that might be useful. 

Camping – the best activity for families to bond and an excellent chance for children and youths to get out of the house into the great outdoors. Right before any camping trip, many people would make a trip to the camping equipment store to purchase tents, portable toilets, outdoor stoves, jack knives etc. You use these newly purchased, and quite expensive equipment in your camp, and when camp is over, store them somewhere. When the next trip comes, you retrieve the items you stashed away and you discover the tent has started to rip, the jack knife has rusted and your stove simply cannot start. It’s a trip to the equipment store again amidst a whole lot of cursing.

Sounds familiar? Here are some tips that soldiers, camping experts and outdoors men follow when it comes to the maintenance of their camp equipment.

1. Keep moisture away

Soldiers know that it isn’t necessarily the enemies that you fear most but moisture that creeps into your equipment. Moisture can destroy. It causes rust, so your jack knife isn’t sharp anymore and the metal parts of your stove, unusable. It can damage your tent by causing the polyurethane coating to stick to itself, ripping the material when peeled apart, and by encouraging mildew growth. Always remember to dry all equipment thoroughly before putting them away. This step is even more important if you are storing in a self storage facility as you will not be accessing it as much.

2. Keep an inventory

This is the most overlooked step but it is so simple. Whether you’re storing in your garage or in the self storage facility, you must have with you a list of all the items that you have purchased. Why is this important? It is because the items are seldom used and you will forget what you had put away in storage. This will save you money in the long run by preventing you from buying stuff you already have.

3. Wash all equipment

This is obvious for your mobile toilet. However, many forget that many items are placed on the ground full of foreign bacteria that can be brought back to your storage. Give everything a rinse with a hose and some antiseptic wash, and that includes your backpack. Then remember point number one.

4. Protect

A good tip to follow is to put what can go into your backpack in there. Lining the interior of the backpack with a plastic bag is optional with today’s material but it can give you that extra protection against moisture. The benefit of storing things in your backpack is of course, the convenient the next time you go camping. As for larger items, wrap them in plastic neatly in storage and they can last you a long time.