urgent camping questions

[cungryhatterpillar]

Do I.need a padlock for the tent? Do people lock themselves in their tent at night. What if we leave it during the day? We're camping outside a yha for a week. Obv we won't leave valuables in but I thought we'd leave the sleeping bags and clothing. What's normal in terms of security?

Also, should I take a cheese grater. And how vital is a mallet?

[wohmum]

We never lock the tent and i'venever seen anyone else do it either.
Generally campers are a pretty honest lot.

The only exception would be at a festival maybe, but tbh, if you lock it, it will just make any dodgy people think there is something worth stealing - and it's pretty easy to get in a tent if you wanted to.

[wohmum]

Cheese grater not essential, but mallet definitely is !

[MaryMotherOfCheeses]

Mallet is necessary to bang in the tent pegs. Though if the ground is very soft, given the recent rain, you might find they go in easy enough without one.

I buy bags of grated cheese when we're camping. There's only so much stuff I want to take!

And no to a padlock. Apart from anything you may want to get out in an emergency. Campsites are normally very safe. I guess you could padlock it in the day but most people don't.

[FlipFlopWaddle]

We don't lock the awning and leave sleeping stuff, clothes etc in it when we go out for the day.

Mallet, yes.

Grater, depends on whether you want grated cheese . We take one but I haven't used it this week so far to be honest

[GalaxyInMyPants]

Never padlocked a tent. Noone would want a used sleeping bag or clothes. A padlock will make it look like you're leaving iPads, etc in it and someone might take a knife to the tent. Even that's unlikely but they could if they wanted to.

I've camped for years without a mallet or a grater. Hiking boot generally does as a mallet.

[hels71]

I use my grater!!

[MaryMotherOfCheeses]

I use my bottle opener

[pictish]

No point padlocking a tent is there really - if someone wants in they only need a pair of scissors to do it.
We leave our stuff in the tent all day, but take anything valuable with us in the car.

[pictish]

I take a grater camping.
And definitely a mallet. You can bang pegs in with a rock, but why not use a mallet?

[themummyonthebus]

Agree with above. Any valuables get locked in the car.

[GalaxyInMyPants]

I suppose you could use a grater as a mallet if you don't mind denting it.

[GalaxyInMyPants]

Because rocks are free. Mallets are £2.99 in Millets.

[pictish]

Mallets are designed for the job in hand and do it very efficiently, and they're only £2.99.

My dh refuted a mallet for years, citing them to be for pussies. I eventually bought one and took it with me. Well he had to have a go. Converted.

We now have £5 one! Extravagant!

[pictish]

They are a must for rock pegs.

[chocomochi]

Get a mallet with a hook at the end to make unpegging the tent easier (our first mallet didn't have a hook, which I have now "accidentally" lost).

[cungryhatterpillar]

Thank you mn camping massive. I will get a mallet and bring my grater.

[Cardriver]

No to padlocking the tent as others have said. I don't even lock my door at yhas except at night when we're sleeping. Never had anything taken.

Yes to a mallet.

Don't bother with a grater, borrow one from the yha kitchen or take grated cheese.

Are you going somewhere nice?

[riskit4abiskit]

We keep valuables and also emergency spare clothes and blanket in car just in case of tent leak (this has never happened though).

we have one of those cheese graters at home that has a handle and a clip on box to collect the cheese. Love it. Never felt the need to take it on hols yet

[pictish]

My camping grater is flat like this so it doesn't take up any room.
Jus' sayin'

[gingeroots]

I have a tiny grater that I take www.hintonshome.com/mini-grater/

To remove tent pegs I generally use a spare tent peg horizontally through the eye of the one in the ground and use both hands to pull . But that's just me .

[Pixel]

You can use a spare peg to pull out the normal ones but a proper peg puller is much better for rock pegs.
It has never occurred to me to padlock a tent! The crime rate is low, I've never personally heard of anything being stolen, but that is probably because thieves know that anything worth stealing will be locked in the boot of the car if people have any sense. We do put a hitch lock on our trailer so it can't be towed away though.

[PumpkinBones]

We have just bought a mallet as well as a replacement set of tent pegs after bending them all by inexpertly jumping on them.