Tent storage

[jray 10]

Most high quality ripstop nylon tents that come with a "stuff sack" are designed to be stuffed. Hence the name "stuff sack".

 

As far as folding or rolling tents is concerned, it depends on the design. The down side is the 'laminating' effect that can cause folded edges to be damaged and difficult to deal with. Try the following:

 

Take a 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper and crumple it up. Easy, huh? Now take another piece and fold it in half 5 times until it contains 32 sections (yes, that's only 5 folds). Now try to make sure it's tight as it would be in a sack and try to crumple it in your hands. Not quite as easy was it?

 

This 'lamination' effect causes the tent, etc. to be far more rigid and subject to damage at its corners. In addition, it causes all such stresses to be distributed in the same basic area each time the tent is folded.

 

A tent that is stuffed, distributes the 'wear' across the entire surface of the tent, and it's likely this distribution will be different every time the tent is stuffed, which insures the wear is distributed evenly across the entire area of the tent.

 

Oops, I need to edit...

 

As others have mentioned, I also do a quick camp breakdown at times and end up with wet tents. Make sure you clean them off and dry them completely before storing them away after you get home. Even a small amount of water can result in mildew which can only be eliminated using chlorinated products. These products also reduce the strength of the material via the loss of plasticizers from the nylon, etc. and can drastically affect the life of the product (tent, pack, stuff sacks, etc).

(This message has been edited by jray)

[ASM7 10]

Sorry for the late post.

We are fortunate to have a scout storage room with a drop down ceiling. They make hangers for these grids in the ceiling. We use these to hang our tents on when not in use. The tents seem to always have some moisture on them even if not raining. This storage system keeps them dry and off the floor. The meeting before campout, scouts pack their tents and make sure they have no damage and they have all the components.

[scomman 10]

I must be the oddball here. I was always taught to roll and put in the bag now is that stuffing or folding? We do have large staff wall type tents that we fold and put in the trailer until we get home then they are unfolded and allowed to dry while mounted from the cieling using hooks and ropes.

[hops_scout 9]

I just recently received a North Pole 9'X8' tent from Walmart. These tents are made by Ozark Trail and I too have a little bag with a zipper on it. When it is dry here ( we got several inches of snow last week) I am going to set it up to see if it will fit back into the bag. If I struggle too much, I will most likely get a large stuff sack to put it in. Good old military surplus for ya. Also, I have always folded my tents. That is the way our troop teaches us to correctly put the tents away.(This message has been edited by hops_scout)