Pitching and Packing Away Your Tent
• Try to arrive early to give yourself plenty of time to set up camp before it gets dark.
• Before erecting your tent, take a few minutes to consider how to make the most of your pitch and clear any twigs, stones and other debris to prevent ripping the groundsheet.
• An extra groundsheet under your tent will help to protect the floor from wear and tear.
• Lay out all the poles and pegs in one place to avoid standing on them; try to avoid shaking out linked poles as it can damage the ends.
• Colour-coded poles and pole 'tunnels' help easy pitching and are great for helping to teaching the children how to put a tent up. Continuous or in sections, pole sleeves guide the poles into position so that they can be held snugly in place; have one person at the beginning and another person at the end of a pole sleeve, with the pole being pushed from the opening of the sleeve until it comes out the other side, not pulled!
• Secure all poles in the eyelets or ring and pin systems to give your tent its structure.
• As your choice of pitch may be restricted on site, it pays to pack a variety of pegs to ensure your tent is pitched securely whether the ground is hard or soft.
• Even on a calm, sunny day, peg your tent down well. It's better done in daylight than in the middle of the night or a storm. A camping mallet makes it easy to place pegs securely.
• In hot, humid weather, angle your tent doorway toward the breeze to help keep the inside cool and make the most of mesh doors and vents to keep the inside of your tent cool and dry.
If the wind is strong, try to have the more aerodynamic end of your tent (usually the rear) facing the direction of the wind; all these little factors will help with the strength of your tent in bad conditions.
A tent peg extractor makes pulling out pegs really easy and prevents sore fingers!
If you can, wipe pegs clean and roll up guylines neatly before packing the tent away it will aid with the overall care of the tent.
If the tent is packed damp then hang it up to dry as soon as possible before storing it away for a period of time; this will prevent mould and mildew build up and prolong the lifetime and performance of your tent.
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