There’s nothing like the excitement of opening up your brand new camping gear! The way it smells when it comes out of the box, the way everything just works perfectly, how clean it is.

The first thing many people do, is pull everything out of the box and set up their swag right up in the living room, and there is a good to fair chance, that if you set up your swag in the living room like we did, you ended up sleeping in it the first night, right there on the floor.

Naturally though, when you start to use your swag out in the real world at your favourite campsite it will get a little grubby. That’s just what happens when you go camping!

That doesn’t mean you have to put up with a dirty swag that looks grubby and worn out. In fact, it’s very simple to keep your Adventure Kings swag looking fresh and clean if you follow a couple of basic steps.

Look after your swag and it will give you years of faithful service, and every night will be as comfortable as the last. Here’s our guide to keeping your new swag looking good and working like new!

PROTECT YOUR MATTRESS

The simplest and easiest way to keep your new swag’s mattress clean, is to use a fitted sheet like the one you use on your bed at home. Get one on your mattress as soon as you first set your swag up, and then leave it in there.

By fitting a sheet to keep your mattress clean, climbing into bed whilst wearing grubby clothes won’t get your whole mattress filthy, and cleaning is as simple as making your bed when you get home.

USE A MESH FLOOR

If you can create a clean environment under your swag, you’ll stop all the dirt and sand getting into it. The Kings mesh floors are purpose designed and let soil, sand, dust and dirt to fall through,  simply throw one down at camp before you roll out your swag and you’ll create a nice clean space to sit your swag on.

GIVE THE WHOLE SETUP A SHAKEDOWN

Before you pack your swag away, particularly for long-term storage is to unzip your swag and gut your swag, give your mattress and sheets a good shake-up. If you put them on the bonnet of your car and use the dustpan and broom to sweep out the dirt and sand that has been hiding away under the mattress. Then, one-by-one and take the queen sized mattress, the sheets and sleeping bag and give them all a good shake-out and put them back in. Your swag will be beautifully clean and perfectly made for your next camping adventure!

KEEP A DUSTPAN HANDY

A cheap dustpan from the $2 store should be something that lives in the back of every 4WD. We use it all the time when the wind changes and blows a few ashes from the fire across our swags. A quick brush-off every now and then keeps your swag canvas looking fresh and avoids filthy ashy and sooty marks. we also use ours for cleaning out the back of the car and brushing sand off our feet before jumping into the sheets.

GIVE IT A SCRUB WITH WARM SOAPY WATER EVERY COUPLE OF MONTHS

If you’ve been using your swag a lot recently, you should definitely treat it to a bath the next time you have a spare hour one weekend.

It’s easier than it sounds, simply undo the swag zippers, remove everything and hang your swag on your clothesline. Give it a solid spray down with the garden hose, then give it a decent sponge down with warm, soapy water using mild dish soap.

No harsher cleaning chemicals are ever required and in fact, anything harsher than mild soap can cause damage the canvas. once it is clean you can give it a good rinse with the hose and leave it out to dry completely out of direct sunlight.

Once it is dry you can consider it clean and seasoned!

USE A BAR OF SOAP ON THE ZIPPER TEETH

The Adventure Kings swags use big heavy duty self-healing zippers that run smoothly and beautifully, but after a couple of months of use in dusty dirty environments, the zippers can naturally start to gunk up a little. The solution is as simple as a very small amount of lubrication from a bar of soap all along the length of the zipper, especially if you’ve just washed it like in point 5 above. Be sparing with the soap, you don’t need to apply too much – but you’ll be amazed just how good the zippers instantly feel again.