Aftercare: Tents

In use
• Ultimately, all tents made of polyester or nylon fabrics will degrade when exposed to UV light (the fabric becomes weak and brittle). Try to avoid leaving tents pitched for longer than necessary, especially at altitude (where UV light is stronger) or in exposed locations.
• Use a tent footprint (groundsheet protector), or piece of plastic sheeting to reduce wear and tear to the sew-in groundsheet – it’s life will be greatly extended.
• Always ensure that pole sections are fully located together before pitching the tent, as joins not fully located are put under much greater stress and are therefore much weaker.
• Try to avoid letting pole sections ‘snap’ together during assembly, as this can put small dents in the ends of the poles, which again can lead to weakness.

Storage
Tents should always be dried thoroughly before packing away for storage. Tents packed away wet for any length of time invariably grow mildew, which is smelly, unsightly and impossible to remove.

Maintenance
• Clean dirt and grit from zips, as it greatly accelerates wear. Lubricate zips when necessary with a silicon spray, such as Terra Nova Zip Lube.
• Inners and flysheets can be machine washed with a product such as Terra Nova Tent Cleaner.
• Flysheets can be easily re-proofed with products such as Nikwax Texnik.
• Small holes and rips in the flysheet or ground sheet can be easily repaired with sealant products such as Seam Grip.
• Larger holes, rips or other damage can be easily repaired by the tent manufacturer. We can arrange this for you, but please ensure that the tent is clean and dry before returning it to us.

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