Camping is an excellent way to holiday during the summer months, it’s wonderful to be outdoors, and for the kids, it’s an exciting adventure.
Trouble is camping gear generally takes up a lot of space; because there is so much kit involved! And when the holidays are over, and we’re all packed up ready for home, what do we do with all this stuff?
It’s vitally important that we find suitable storage solutions for our camping equipment, that way we can enjoy our camping trips year after year knowing our kit is stored safely and ready to use! If we don’t get this right, we risk the chances of having to replace it due to damage or damp; and that could be costly!
To help avoid any potential disasters, here are our top tips for storing your camping equipment.
Pristine Clean before you pack away!
First of all, everything has to be pristine clean before it’s packed away, especially if you want it to be in useable order for next year. Any dirt on sleeping bags, tents, and tent poles, etc. is a disaster waiting to happen; it can lead to deterioration if left over time not to mention the bad smell it will generate too.
If your equipment needs cleaning a damp cloth is enough to remove excess dirt, and for larger items, you may have to hose them down but make sure that everything is dry before it goes into storage because moisture and damp can cause items to rust and corrode.
Rolling storage containers!
If you haven’t heard of rolling storage containers, look them up! These large containers are perfect for storing all of your equipment in; you can get as many as you like and store everything in them neatly and safely. We recommend getting at least two; one for loose sleeping bags, tents, and any other fabric items, and another one for all of your extra items such as utensils, cooking stoves, and pumps and lamps, etc.
Keep camping kit together!
It’s an obvious one, but many of us fail to actually do this! When storing our camping Kit it better to store it all together rather than all over the place or in different areas because it makes life so much easier when it comes to taking our next trips, we don’t want to waste any time searching for items or worse still forgetting essential things for the trip. Keep them together, keep it simple!
If you have a garage, spare room or shed at home to store your camping equipment, perfect, provided it’s not damp! If not, do not threat you can always try renting a storage unit, they are affordable and clean, damp and mould free, so it’s a safer alternative for stress-free storage solutions.
Take extra care with electrical items!
Before you pack away those electrical goods, like Radios, flashlights, lamps, and heaters, etc, make sure batteries are removed because they can corrode over time when left in storage and tie cables and plugs so that nothing gets damaged, also carefully pack these items prior to storage with clearly labelled boxes so that they don’t end up at the bottom of the pile.
