Will the sun degrade my tent?

The quick answer is yes. Exposed to the glare of direct sunlight, and to a lesser extent on particularly bright days, the fabric of your tent or awning will unfortunately slowly deteriorate.

The speed which your tent will degrade will depend on a number of things, the length of sunny periods, cloud cover, temperature, and altitude, as will the position of your pitch. Try and locate a pitch that remains shaded for a good period of the day, especially if you are setting up camp for weeks.

If you’ve put the tent up in the garden in the summer for the kids to play in, once they’re bored with it, don’t leave it there for weeks before you get around to taking it down!

As so many factors are at work, the length of time your tent will last could probably be compared to a random length of string….. If you’re using it mainly in the UK then judging by last summer you’ll be more in need of waterproofing spray than sun tan lotion, but here at World of Camping we’re expecting a scorcher this year, at least a weeks sun for every week of rain last year we think 🙂

If you’re off to a nice hot country and setting up your motorhome or caravan and awning in direct sunlight for a couple of months then the awning might not last more than one season.

On average, if you use your tent or awning for a week or two each year and look after it, you should normally expect to get several years of happy camping from it before it starts to crack and disintegrate under the suns rays.

Just remember, shade is the tent’s friend!