You should know how to store camping gear the right way if you wish to increase the lifespan of your gear. Nothing is worse than taking out your gear for your next camping round and finding it to be an absolute mess. It kills the entire mood of camping and takes you extra time to clean and pack the gear.
How to Store Camping Gear in 5 Simple Steps
To keep everything in working order, well maintained, and useable for the next time you go camping, here are the five basic steps for proper storage.
1. Remove Food Items and Fuel
If you forget to remove food items from your camping equipment, they will soon attract pests and creatures you have never seen and surely don’t want around. You’ll be in for a surprise as these pests will not only live in your equipment, but some might eat through it and cause irreplicable damage. As for your kitchen equipment, empty all the fuel from the liquid-fuel stoves so that you can store them safely and not be worried about leaks or any other issues.
2. Always Clean Your Gear
If you want to improve the lifespan of your camping gear and make your life easier for your next camping trip, then clean everything before you store it. Remember that you’ll need to clean out everything from mud, dirt, sand, and drink or any type of spills from almost everything.
Here’s how you can clean your gear:
Tent
The essential camping gear you will be spending your nights on to rest should be clean and sanitized. Set your tent in the yard or your driveway and remove as much mud and dirt as you can with a wet sponge. Rinse it with water and let it air dry. Avoid using any chemical form on your tent, and never put your tent in the washing machine.
Sleeping bags
Sleeping bags should be washed thoroughly so that there are no chances of you getting rashes or any other sort of allergy. These can easily be washed in the washing machine. Each sleeping bag comes with its own set of instructions, so be careful and read it carefully before you try it out.
Boots
Wash your boots with lukewarm water and a brush to remove any dirt stuck to your boots. You’ll need these to be comfortable and clean before use.
Backpack
Your backpack is a must as it will carry all your essentials. You have to make sure it’s neat and clean before you put in anything. Scrub it with a mild detergent in a plastic tub full of lukewarm water. It will be brand new.
Water bottles
Soap and water will make your water bottles squeaky clean and ready to be used for another trip of adventures.
3. Air Out All Your Gear
It will take a while for your gear to be fully dry and ready for use, so be patient and don’t rush the dry time for your gear. It is important to do so because it will ruin everything if you wrap your tent, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, or backpack when they’re still wet.
Make sure your gear gets enough amount of sunlight, just to be sure. You can keep your tent set up to dry and hang your sleeping pads and bags open along with your backpack. While you’re making sure these are neat and clean, don’t forget about your cooking equipment and clothing. Wash everything before storing it.
4. Remove Batteries From Devices
If your camping trip is not until another few months, it’s best to remove all the batteries from devices. It will help prevent weathering and battery discharge which can lead to your expensive items being ruined.
The most essential and common items that you should check right away are:
- Flashlights
- Radios
- Stoves
- Headlamps
- GPS devices
5. Label your Gear While Packing
Once you’ve successfully cleaned and dried your gear, gotten rid of food and fuel, it’s time to get to the main task; packing. It’s best to pack your gear in labeled storage containers. It will help a lot with space and make moving easier.
This tight packing will help keep moisture and any bugs and pests from getting into your gear as they’ll be packed away. Buy good quality containers as you can use them for years to come. This packaging will be suitable for all except sleeping bags and sleeping pads as folding them into a smaller container can ruin their shape and cause tears and insulation to damage. You can hang these in the spare closet in your house.
Other Storage Tips
- Store your gear in one place so that it’s easy for you to find it when you need to.
- Disassemble your stove before storing it.
- Keep the caps off of your bottles when you’re storing them to allow air inflow.
- Get rid of all the things you don’t want to use.
- Make sure you don’t store your gear in any place where it’ll be exposed to moisture.
Our Final Thoughts
We hope this article gives you a clear picture of how to store camping gear. If you take care of your gear, it will last you years. So make sure you store your gear accordingly.
