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Hi all

I'm more a reader of this forum then i am a poster, however....

We have an Outwell iowa wich i put up yesterday just to check over as we have a couple of weekends away and a week in cornwall coming up. The tent its self was fine, just as we put away at the end of last season. But i did notice the shock cord/elastic that runs through the centre of the the poles, in one area has almost chauffed through. i know its not that much of a problem when pitched, but if it was to fray through i would have a load of loose poles to put together when pitching. I'v been thinking about getting a spare pole kit for a while so now i have the excuse.

Has anybody repaired the elastic before, which is the best way around doing it?

Also any recomendations as to were im best getting the pole kit from?

Thanks in advance Andy.

Hi, I have replaced pole elastic before. It was quite easy and I bought it from Go Outdoors. They sell it off the roll by the metre.

Put the pole in question together to check the assembled length, then add on a metre so you have enough to thread through without any tension to worry about.

Then when its all threaded through and coming out the other end, apply some stretch to it and tie a knott or two big enough to stop the cord going back through the hole and cut off any excess.

While your at it, buy a spare length to suit your longest pole length and could be replaced on site if needed in the future.

Thanks for the speedy replies Byngo1 and Canvasolve.

We was at go outdoors the other week wish i would have known about it, could of picked some up then.

How about the durawrap pole kits? so far i can only find them on ebay. I'l have to get two kits as the tent uses two different size poles..

I have just come accross the pole kits at go outdoors too,

I think i should look abit more next time

I imagine the pole kit includes elastic and spare section(s) and steel ends.

Did'nt notice if my Hartford XL pole bag had any spares but my last tent came with spare carbon sections anyway and when i split one or two over the years, all i needed was some new elastic.

If you do split a carbon pole on the day, you can always make a temporary repair with electrical / self amalgamiting tape winding the tape all the way along the split length.

yeah there is one spare section in the bag (i'm sure it will be the case with your hartford too), but thats 12.7mm and the tent also uses 11mm diameter poles could work out expensive at nearly £50 on spare poles?

I'm sure i could loose a couple of rolls of insulation tape at work and use your method. Have you done it youself before?

Yeah, used tape before, the pole section will not have quite the tension / spring in it that it should have but will get you by just fine for your camp trip.

I advised someone in the family to do the same once, and they have never bothered replacing the section that was taped up. I would'nt do that but, as I said, fine for a temporary repair.

Great stuff, thanks for the advice