It’s time to get your kit ready for some camping trips!!

With some of our older tents, broken fibre-glass poles are a reasonably regular occurrence.  I think it’s just that they are old and well used. I used to just take the poles to a nice man in the Cotswolds Outdoor shop who fixed them for me, but then he stopped doing it.

So, I decided it was time to save myself some money and do it myself.  If you want to fix yours, here’s how!

Here are the problems I needed to fix. On one pole the joiner had split. On the other the pole had cracked and we’d done a temporary repair with tape!

First step is to fish out the elastic that joins the pole sections together. Do this from the end nearest the break.

The first time I fixed a pole I bought the Vango tentpole kit, and it came with a nifty wire hook thing. It might be worth investing in a kit for your first repair or maybe you could fashion something from a wire coat hanger?

Since that first time I now just buy the odd pole that I need. S K Camping which is one of our favourite camping shops has a bucket of odd poles. You can take the broken one, find one that matches and buy just the one.

Once you’ve fished out the elastic you need to untie the knot.

Now take the poles apart, being extra careful to keep them in the right order!

Once you’ve located the broken pole, cut your replacement section to the right size.

 

Next you need to file the end to remove any sharp edges.

Now re-thread the elastic through all the sections – in the correct order.

Tie off the elastic at the end. You’ll want to do something like a triple knot, just to be sure it holds.

And good as new – you’re ready for your next camping trip!

L