Camping and outdoor life are amazing until the day for camping equipment storage comes. When the off-season is close, it is essential for you to take proper care of your tents, canoe, hiking boots, fishing gear, paddles, and mountain clothing items to keep them preserved for the next trip.
Your hiking items are permanently at risk of damage due to numerous critical factors such as high humidity, cold, windy, and snowy weather conditions, dampness, etc. Avoid them by using any of our camping equipment storage ideas. Here’s how to preserve your most precious personal belongings for the next season.
How Can You Store Camping Equipment Safely
Start With Some Cleaning of the Equipment
Nothing can be worse than getting the last-minute offer for a 2 –day mountainous hiking tour and finding out that your equipment is dirty and unfit for immediate use. It always happens to those of you who are in a rush when storing camping equipment and forget to clean it.
There’s even one more reason to sanitize your outdoor items. The disinfection process will keep them bacteria-free and eliminate the risk of bad odor. We strongly recommend you to:
- Remove the mud and all excess dirt in advance;
- Damp, brush and wash each with lukewarm water and special detergents each item and according to the manufacturer’s maintenance instructions;
- Soak and sanitize the cooking accessories;
- Use your washing machine when possible (yes, for clothing, but an absolute “NO” for the tent).
Ensure Every Part of the Equipment is Dry
Once you wash and dry all the items to prepare them for camping equipment storage, don’t directly put them in the container. Let’s not forget that, after all, you tend to keep these items away from humidity. Make sure your hiking and outdoor activity belongings are dry. Roll them up and benefit from any DIY or commercial camping storage ideas.
Store Everything Away in Reliable Containers
Do you have any spare camping equipment storage ideas? Well, make sure to find some. If you want your outdoor activity personal belongings to be in a proper condition for the next season, putting them in a reliable container until then is a must. Some of the most considerable hiking and tripping enthusiasts are willing to invest in buying specially tailored containers. Others, though, use their imagination and creativity to build their own. For instance, you can use any of these:
- Old but clean and safe bins;
- Plastic or wooden drawers;
- Pegboards to hang sleeping bags, fishing rods, etc.;
- Self-made shelves in the attic;
- Hanging racks in your basement or the garage.
Organization Tips – List and Label
The excitement before a trip is for sure. The adrenaline before the next adventure in the wild nature is too big to be tranquil and calm when looking for the tent, the hiking boots, or your fishing rod. But if you don’t have any organization of your camping equipment storage method, you will always be in a fuss before every trip.
We suggest you sort the different items by purpose, size, or other factors. Then, label each group of accessories in one container (drawer, cardboard box, etc.). This is how you will always know what container to open when you go fishing or, instead, when you go on a romantic 1-night evening under the stars with your soul mate.
Keep Everything in Safe Conditions
We’ve already mentioned how important it is for your hiking equipment to dry before storing it for the off-season. Well, it’s crucial for it to be put in a dry place, too. But that’s not all regarding the safe conditions for your camping equipment storage plan. It is a must for the space to be away from direct sunlight, mold, pests, and other critical conditions.
Prevention is better than cure, and to tell you the truth, some hiking items are tough or quite expensive to be repaired. They can damage your camping gear in no time, and you will be pretty disappointed to see them at the beginning of the next season.
Provide the Electronics Safety
Be extremely careful when considering camping storage ideas if you have electronics in your equipment. That would be the cooking devices, the flashlights, the GPS system, etc. Before finding the right place for them, remove the batteries and wrap them in plastic foil or put them in solid plastic bags.
It is more reliable to keep all electronics separately from the rest of the items. Also, please, make sure they are not crumpled in the container, drawer, or whatever type of storage you have decided to use. Last but not least, safely arrange the devices to avoid cable, button, or display damage.
Don’t Hesitate to Consider a Storage Unit
One of the biggest problems that occur when considering proper camping equipment storage is the availability of empty space. Unfortunately, not all of us have it. Indeed, there’s always a chance for you to keep everything in the garage, the attic, or your folks’ place. But what about if none of these camping storage ideas is available for you?
Simply use a commercial storage facility service. It includes an individual container (or several of them) per customer. So, your wife will finally stop arguing about the mess you create in the garage. Using a professional storage unit will also save you time and effort in preparing your equipment for storage, as the company’s employees are even available to come and pick up your things and manage everything instead of you.
Conclusion
Camping is definitely one of the best experiences you can have. Sleeping in your own tent under millions of stars rather than in a 5-star hotel is something that only a true wild nature lover will appreciate in the proper manner. Preserve your outdoor activity shelter and accessories in the best way by using any of our tested and efficient camping equipment storage ideas.