Tent pole repair

Tue 2 Aug 2022, 12:59

Sarah - that would be fantastic.  Thank you. I'll send you a direct message.

Kim - I did that with some tape over the weekend, but it made getting the poles through the small hole very difficult as it wasn't as slippery. I'd rather have a decent pole as I have spares.

Tue 2 Aug 2022, 08:07

I have a split pole on my main tent Simon and have just wrapped gaffa tape around it. It works perfectly well and has had many years of successful use since. You can also tape poles if the elastic has broken, saves all the faffing.

Mon 1 Aug 2022, 21:22 (last edited on Mon 1 Aug 2022, 21:27)

I’d be happy to have a go for you. I’ve replaced many a broken tent pole & have the kit

Mon 1 Aug 2022, 21:19

Jan, I've no idea what a bodkin is... Will look it up.

Mon 1 Aug 2022, 21:18

The offending pole is in the middle of a run of 7 of them. Each end has a metal end cap which I assume somehow holds the elastic in place. It only cost £10 for the fix last time, and that seems cheap considering the faff involved. 

I'll have a search on YouTube and look at what you folks have suggested. Thank you.

Steve - I have welding wire which would be perfect for it. And some unwound from the bobbin yesterday, so it must have meant to happen!

Mon 1 Aug 2022, 20:26 (last edited on Mon 1 Aug 2022, 20:29)

There are several videos around about this, and the best way appears to be to pull the elastic cord using a thin piece of wire, as in this example. A bit tricky if you don't have have the wire of course, but I suspect that you could cut out a suitable length section of the copper earth wire in some 1.5 mm^2 "twin and earth" lighting cable if you have any about.

https://www.google.com/search?q=re-threading+fibreglass+tent+poles&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=ubuntu&channel=fs#kpvalbx=_RijoYsLwFfOAhbIPrr6nsAE20

Mon 1 Aug 2022, 17:50

Have you tried a bodkin?

Mon 1 Aug 2022, 17:06

As luck would have it I assembled our tent in the back garden and discovered that one of the fibreglass poles has split. Thankfully it was just for use by the kids over the weekend and not on a holiday...

There used to be a place in Witney that could replace these and re-thread the elastic. I even have the receipt from the last time it happened about 10yrs ago. The company has since disappeared. Anyone know anywhere local that can do this work? I have spare poles... but getting the elastic through them seems to be a magic art akin to putting toothpaste back in the tube...