Zipper Maintenance
Almost every tent has zippers usually at the tents entrance. A common problem with tents is the zipper breaking. So it’s important to maintain your tents zipper well. Instead of buying some propriety spray or oil you can simply run a soap bar over the zippers teeth when they are exposed. How does this work? Well because soap bars are made mostly from wax. This wax will act brilliantly as a lubricant for your zipper and will help keep your zipper in brilliant shape for years to come!
Improved Durability and Maintenance
Before you set any tent up I would recommend putting down an additional piece of plastic tarp under the tent. Not only does this significantly improve your tents waterproofing but it will also help keep your tent in better condition for much longer. A material I would recommend for this is called polythene dust sheets, these work excellently for this purpose. It’s also worth mentioning that when packing up after your camping trips the tent will remain cleaner, which is a great time saver.
Waterproofing Trick
If you have ever had problems with water leaking into your tent it will most likely be because of the seams on the tent leaking. The reason for this is because when these tent manufacturers produce their tents they add a waterproofing coating to the materials. Then after this coating is applied they will sow the materials together and they will not be recoated with a waterproofing coating. This leads to leaking sometimes in your tent. The easy solution to this is to apply a sealant to both the inside and outside of all your seams on your tent. I would suggest any spray sealant that is silicon based, it will do an excellent job and will magically keep your tent bone dry in any thunderstorm!
Stakes
Do yourself a favour and upgrade your tents stakes. A common problem with a lot of tent stakes is they are often flimsy and will easily bend and break without much pressure. The best stakes are made from carbon fiber as they are strong and can take a lot of punishment without bending or breaking. This will make your tent even more sturdy against strong winds and will definitely improve its longevity. I would also suggest you buy a rubber mallet to hammer these into the ground. This is mainly because a metal hammer is more likely to damage them over time so a rubber mallet is a better option.
Lighting
It’s important to have some means of lighting when camping and it can often be overlooked. Having a lantern to hang in the top middle of your tent is a great option when it gets dark out. People often will bring flashlights on their camping trip but they do poorly when it comes to lighting a large area, so I constantly recommend a lantern. You should always bring 1 or 2 backups such as a flashlight in case your main lantern malfunctions. Lights are measured by Lumens which measure the amount of visible light that is emitted from a light source. A lantern with 250 lumens is an ideal amount to illuminate any tent.
