Here at IBEX Camping we are well practiced at popping our tents back in their bags , particularly with our tent hire service , we very often pitch and de pitch again too!
So here are our tips for getting your tent packed safely back in it's bag ready for your next camping adventure!
First things first - before you start your pack down make sure your tent is completly dry , the flysheet should feel dry as well as the guylines and guyline points , check your mud flaps too water can sometimes get trapped during your camping trip. If there's any sign of water leave to dry a little longer. Don't forget to unroll any window or door coverings
While the outside of your tent is drying take a little time to check the inside too , check the edges of the groundsheet for any signs of trapped condensation. If you have internal poles - check underneath these too. Many tents are now pitch a one meaning that once you have popped your bedrooms in place you can leave them in for next time you use your tent. Don't forget to check underneath your bedrooms condensation can sometimes get trapped under the bedrooms. Also check behind / inside any window or door coverings that have been rolled up.
Once you're happy that your tent is completely dry inside and out , (if you need to leave the site don't worry just unpack and re pitch as soon as you can.) You can start your de pitch , check the inside of the tent thoroughly for forgotten gear ... we very often find torches in the bedroom pockets , another favourite hiding place is under the bedrooms.
Start by unpegging your guylines , check the weather in very windy conditions we may leave some stabilising guylines in place ... we once nearly lost a Canvas Frame Tent over the cliff tops in Yorkshire!
Poled tents either Fibreglass or Steel , remove your poles working from the front or the back depending on any wind direction , try not to create a fabric kite :) we usually have someone picking up the poles as they are removed so we don't leave any behind!
Inflatable poles deflate with the valves , when your flysheet is flat you can gently work along the poles to manually expel any remaining air from the poles , some stirrup pump also have a deflate mode to help remove any residual air.
Sewn in Groundsheets are great but they do trap air when it comes to De pitch we always leave a door open or more than one in larger tents , this gives the air an escape route when folding. So let's begin folding ....
Start to unpeg your tent , again keep an eye on the weather if it's a little breezy simply leave a few holding pegs in place until you're ready to remove them. Depending on the size of your tent , we would usually for larger tents start folding with the longest size , for vis a vis tunnel tents we usually start folding from the shorter edge
For either method we start by folding a section of the Flysheet to the same width of the tent bag and towards an open door - we then fold in sections from both sides of the tent to meet and foldover in the middle - we find that folding in 3 or 4 works best depending on the size of your tent.
With each fold we carefully expel any excess air from the tent working towards the open door (s) once you have finished you should then be left with a folded tent the same width of the bag, One last gentle expel of air by pushing across the folded flysheet towards the open doorway and we're ready to start rolling.
Roll your tent again towards the open doorway , once the tent has been rolled check that it's small enough to fit the bag by sliding over your rolled tent ... if it's too large you'll probably just need to roll again! once the tent bag fits over your rolled tent simply roll over the right way up zip or clip your bag closed.
Don't forget to have a quick sweep of your pitch for poles ... we usually walk the outline of our pitching space too to check for pegs that we may have dropped or missed!
Thank you for reading our blog post , these are just our little tips ... if you have any suggestions or have any questions please don't hesitate to get in touch our family team of experienced campers are always happy to offer a little advice :)
Thank you for reading this post , our family team of experienced campers are always happy to offer a little advice! Shop @ IBEX Camping
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