With the end of the outdoor camping season upon us it is very important that you clean all of your camping gear before putting it away. Some of the things that you need to pay the most attention to is your tent and sleeping gear, your coolers and any food preparation gear.

Lets start with your tent:

One of the most common problems that I see with tents is that some people will not properly dry their tent out after a camping trip where it has rained. Even when it doesn't rain, moisture can seep up through the ground leaving the bottom of your tent damp. Storing a tent that is damp or wet will cause mold to set in and eat away at your tents fabric.

This is specially true for canvas tents where large sections can rot away in as little as a few weeks. So make sure that you dry your tent out very good before packing it away for the winter.

While mold won’t eat away at your coleman cooler it is always a good idea to clean them out and dry them before putting them away. This will keep you from having scrub them out at the last minute when you go to use them next time.

The same goes for all of your food preparation gear including your camping stove. It only takes a few minutes to clean out the bottom of the stove and this will help prevent rust from setting in and ruining your camping stove after just a few years.

So take a little extra time this year and make sure that your outdoor camping gear is clean and dry before putting it away. You will be glad you did.