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Common Tent Camping Tips (your trail mileage may vary) from Arkatents Outdoor Gear
'Seal All Sewn Seams with a good after-market liquid sewn seam sealing treatment, which takes 2-3 hours for decent over-your-lap tent application, plus 24-72 hours normal drying time.
Factory taped, sealed?Do some more.Premium tents with factory taped/sealed main seams usually have better initial coatings, but almost all still need basic seam sealing, including corners and top fly sheet, before any use, and before grit & grime start clinging to the thread and fabrics.Seal early, and often, for optimum performance.
Any standard tent may drip/leak some, IF in very hard or blowing rain, or IF improperly pitched, or IF not adequately ventilated, or IF not amply coated & seam sealed (part of normal periodic maintenance for these fabric outdoor products, including new tents - even those with factory seam treatment/taping and heavier polyurethane coatings).Older or inexpensive tents may require complete re-application of coatings, as wear and materials indicate.The time & cost of totally re-treating large fabric sections may outweigh the price of a new flysheet or complete tent, particularly with cheaper models.
Re-seal seams once a year, more in heavy use (try Kenyon Recoat 3 or McNett Seam Grip for problem areas on poly-nylon tents).Corners and top fly sheet get most wear, so use extra sealer there - in & outside of tent for best results.If you can swing it, buying an extra fly sheet is a great idea - they take the most wear & tear over time, and having a spare on hand is nice if/when a model is substantially changed or discontinued by the manufacturer and parts become scarce.
Pole & pin connections should be FIRM - check them often in use for adverse movement, and make adjustments as conditions dictate (including cautionary break down of tent and/or retreat to hard shelter in harsh weather); use guy lines, extra stakes for slight gusts, and to improve fabric tension.Wind damage, hail, tree limbs, animals, excessive UV light, other acts of nature or improper use/care are not covered under any known manufacturer warranty.
You can add stability to sand set-ups of beach tents and screen shelters by burying guyed lines about 10-12 inches under the sand - use larger plastic soda bottles filled with water or other weighted & tied objects (toy buckets filled with sand are cheap and simple to use), as your sub-surface corner anchors.Take some bright vinyl tape (red, yellow) or plastic pennants to mark the lines and avoid trips, chokes during use.Check with local beach patrol before any oceanside tent or shelter setups - they are not allowed in some restricted areas.
Most popular beach cabanas, screen houses, tents, and other light-duty shelters are semi-opaque (and not medical devices).Proper use of hats, UV protection lotions, sun glasses, and reflective clothing is always a good idea in longer sun exposures.Stay Cool, Drink Water, Watch The Rays!
Fabrics, hardware will expand and contract with temperature and humidity - make tension changes to guy-outs, fly sheet, and corner fixtures as conditions dictate, usually 2-3 times a day in average use.If you skip these necessary tension adjustments?The fabrics become overly stretched and then sag, the sewn areas get pulled beyond normal limits, and you'll lose the benefit of seam sealing and waterproof coatings due to such over-stressing of the shell - which about guarantees the tent/gazebo WILL leak when it next rains (none of which is covered under any manufacturer warranty, per lack of proper care in use).Keep an eye on the wind, temp, humidity, and tension changes, for best results - and protection of your warranty coverage.
Most popular family camping tents and home yard shelters are for light to moderate duty, as general recreational structures, for casual weekend use 4-5 times a year, and not semi-permanent in design or construction.For set-ups of more than a few days of constant use in calm weather we suggest a commercial or institutional grade vinyl or similar canvas/laminate fabric with a much heavier framework, of 2 to 10 times the cost of a comparably sized over-the-counter retail camping model.Check Eureka!'s web site for links to their commercial tent division, or canvas awning shops, wall tent manufacturers, and local party tent rentals, for further information on commercial-grade frames & UV-stable fabrics.
Maximum dimensions (max dims) shown on many gear sites for height, length, width of gear do not necessarily reflect the actual use-able space (where tents will lose headroom from the peak down, bivy shelters will taper at both head and foot, hexagonal or other non-4-sided tents & screen houses will have a different foot print shape than a shelter with a square or rectangular floor, inflatables will gain height but lose width and length when inflated, so on).Look on the manufacturer's web site for updated model schematics and product specifications, prior to purchase.
Pitch in shade (away from tree limbs) to reduce UV light & heat - a large cheap tarp strung overhead can help too.In constant UV light most poly-nylon tents & shelters will last 2-4 MONTHS, at most, before they start to shred.Pitching or rigging a large, cheap tarp above all - with room for ventilation and normal movement - can help lengthen the life of your more expensive shelter.
Take a small sponge to dab any condensation in corners - some inner moisture is typical with high and/or human humidity and temp changes (vent well for fewer droplets).Pitching at a slight decline will also help water run away from floor area, and off the top sheet.
Poles, fabrics, and hardware exposed to sand, salt (as in ocean area use), excessive dust & dirt, acid rain, or other corrosive elements should be regularly rinsed with clear cool water and allowed to air dry, and before seasonal dry storage.
Place tarps under and inside to protect floor, and make for faster clean-up; bottom tarp should be sized slightly smaller than floor area, to prevent water draw and debris entry.
No food or drink (except drinking water) in tent.
No fuel in tent.
Stow clean, cool & DRY, away from rodent locales; poly-nylon tents should NOT be placed on any cement or concrete, which can damage the fabric & factory coatings beyond repair.Termites will chew on cotton canvas (we've seen it) - use a poly tarp or some DE insect dust (follow label instructions for best use) to create a quick bug barrier.
Do NOT use bleach on mold or mildew - use dilute laundry powder (Ivory Snow) and scrub lightly, rinse well, then re-coat when dry with a high quality outdoor fabric treatment (check web for McNett, Nikwax, Trondak, Kenyon brands) to waterproof.Proper, dry storage is your best bet to avoid fabric problems.
Buy the best tent you can afford, for the likely conditions (get a heavier, full-fly model for windy & wet climes) - many quality models also have main factory sealed & taped seams, for less initial maintenance and better overall performance.
Break camp and take cover if conditions get bad (bring a weather radio, and camp close to hard shelter if possible in event of emergency).
Products fabricated, warehoused, and container shipped from overseas (most current general recreational multi-season tent brands in poly-nylon construction) may vary slightly by factory batch in fabric coating application (as well as color tint, packed weight, and finished size), and may otherwise be impacted by temp & humidity changes, without loss of normal use.
Expect the unexpected - variable terrain, stormy weather, temp changes.These are portable lightweight tension structures, not severe weather bunkers.See brand web sites for additional use suggestions, updated product specs, and limited warranty details, before purchase.
The camping safety tips information page presented here is authorized for non-commercial 3rd party use, from the copyright holder Arkatents™ Outdoor Gear (established 1993, in western Arkansas - retail member NSGA, American Hiking Society, and The Nature Conservancy), including Wiki publication.Arkatents is a privately held, family camping oriented retailer of popular tents, backpacks, canoes, kayaks, life jackets, and beach & travel accessories - with a small, rustic retail seasonal storefront plus year-round online sales.The store motto is "We're Small, But We're Slow."
Inclusive trade references and categories if any are for outdoor safety and product care content analysis, and users are always advised to read other material (both public and private sources) for comparative product use and care ideas, including popular Scouting and outdoor magazines, outdoor sporting goods specialty retailer web sites (check for National Sporting Goods Association membership), manufacturer sites and catalogs, and similar recreational activity content providers, before any product use or purchase.
Please cite Arkatents Outdoor Gear as original source, in any re-publication of the above material.Good faith Wiki user content updates, edits, and feedback are always appreciated.
Arkatents has been online since 1994 starting on CompuServe, and is one of the oldest internet retailers of any kind.
The store was featured in early Arkansas Business and Wall Street Journal copy about the World Wide Web, including an internet retailer promotion run by American Express for some of their more unique small business merchant store accounts.The company has also been the subject of a number of early academic studies on web use and content.
During the late 1990's Arkatents was the largest single store retailer of Eureka! camping products in the south-central United States (excluding chain stores), according to regional sales representatives with Johnson Outdoors (parent company of Eureka!, Old Town Canoe, Silva USA).
Most of these sales were from the internet, selling and shipping to customers in the United States, Canada, South America, Israel, and the UK.
The company's trademark mountain moon & stars logo was inspired by the Ouachita Mountains of western Arkansas, unique formations of which are the only major mountain range in the continental United States to run primarily east-west (versus north-south, as found in the Rockies and Appalachians).
The Ouachitas are a distinct range south of the Arkansas River (Ozarks are primarily north of the Arkansas River valley), and include peaks over 2,000 feet in both western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma.
The company has donated over $5,000.00 in goods and services to local and national charities, for a variety of outdoor education and public service causes, and through their Amble Outdoors on eBay sales affiliate runs a number of charity auctions benefiting philanthropic organizations.
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