Depending on what state you’re in, camping season can be months long or heartbreakingly short, but however long your season usually is, you’ll still be amassing lots of gear for camping.
Despite telling yourself every year that you only need the one tent, and really who needs more than two sleeping bags? You’re always likely to be swayed by the newest and shiniest new camping gadgets and camping accessories. It happens to the best of us.
This does, however, leave you with the problem of where and how to store your camping gear?
Here are four tips to make organizing your camping kit that little bit easier while also making sure it doesn’t get wrecked in the off-season.
Get Self Storage
One of the best places to store your camping gear is actually away from your house in a self-storage unit. These units are secure, well ventilated, and temperature-controlled, and there is much less chance of vermin getting into your gear than if you were storing it in your garage.
Use websites such as www.storagearea.com to find a storage unit near you and check the process. You spend a lot of money on camping geat and should be looking after it properly and safely!
Get A Trailer
If self-storage isn’t an option for you, a small trailer might be. You need to be careful that your trailer is waterproof if you’re going to be storing things that can’t get repeatedly wet, though, or you can make sure your trailer is stored under cover to keep it dry inside.
Bulky gear such as tents, awnings, groundsheets, air mattresses, and kitchen pots and pans store well in trailers, but avoid storing items such as butane gas and sleeping baths in your trailer for fear of vermin or variable temperatures.
Use Vaccum Bags
For soft gear like sleeping bags, jackets, and technical clothing, using vacuum bags has been a popular method of kit storage for campers for a long time now. The added bonus to vacuum bags is that they can usually be hidden away quite easily at the back of closets, under beds, or even flat stored on shelves in your garage.
If you’re going to use the vacuum bags to take your stuff to your campground, make sure you have some way of vacuuming the bags back up again when you leave.
Stackable Boxes
Boxes are the best way to store camping gear if you’re storing it outside or in a garage. See-through boxes work best, or at least boxes with clear labels (even color-coordinated labels) on them. Store your kitchen gear in one, boots and shoes in another, tent accessories in another, and the kids’ toys in another. Don’t feel the need to cram the boxes full; instead, make sure of multiple boxes if necessary as this can make it easier to find your items.
For traveling, boxes might be a good option, too, depending on how much space you have in your vehicle, but using large shopping bags for packing your gear when you travel has the advantage of them being stuffable into different shapes in the car.