This has probably been asked hundreds of times on here, but where is the best place to source a replacement tent pole?
To go in to a little more detail, we have just returned from a week in Dawlish, on Thursday night, we had 8 hours of relentless 40mph wind in which a few of the tents around us collapsed, we were relatively lucky, we only had one pole crack, I managed to tape it together with PVC tape, this got us through the rest of the week but obviously isn't an idea long term fix...
Do I need to buy a whole new pole or can I just replace the one damaged fiberglass section, is this a difficult job?
You can replacement fibreglass pole sections, I have replaced quite a few in my time before moving to an air beam tent.
You need to work out what diameter pole you currently have and then find the replacement, Vango sell repair pole kits. You will then need to trim the new pole to the right length with a hacksaw, I used to lightly sand the square edges and then paint the newly cut end with nail varnish to keep the fibre glass strands together. It’s a pretty easy job to replace a section, the hardest bit is fishing the elastic through all the poles but they include a long wire in the kit to make this quick and easy.
One thing I forgot to add to my original post, the wind also ripped 3 of the connections that clip the canvas to the poles, I'm not sure what these parts are called so I've circled them in the image below.
This hasn't torn the canvas but all 3 missing clips are in a row on one side of the tent so I'm worried about loss of strength rigidity.
Would these be replaceable?
With a damaged pole and the 3 damaged connectors, would it be worth it financially to replace/repair or should I cut my losses and get myself a new tent?
The high winds have taught me some valuable lessons, such as not relying on the wire pegs that come with the tent... I've ordered some heavy duty pegs for our next camping trip.