Tent Poles

My tent is a cheap North Pole tent. After one season it has held up very well. The only problem has been with the cheap fiberglass poles. They have not yet failed me in the field but, at home, during inspection I find cracks. I have replaced them 3 times with those cheap ones you can find in stores. But they too fail. I'm looking for better poles. I ask this becouse I think I just saw the same tent (Giga Big Bend)going for 4x the price. The only diferance is it has 7000 aircraft aluminum poles. Everything is the same but the poles. Is there a good maker of tent poles? I dont realy care if they are aluminum or fiberglass. They just have to be good.

If your tent is the same as in your profile picture, the red hoop, it wouldn't be hard to make your own set of poles, just scrounge some off an old UV damaged tent somewhere. I had an old dome tent which had fairly beefy 12mm aluminum poles and with a hacksaw and a file made a set of great poles for an old Mt Hardwear Light Wedge tent(it's Atlas poles were crap). There's thousands of good tents out there with excellent poles that have to be scrapped due to age or UV damage.

Yes that's the tent. and I have replaced the back pole with a beefer .312 dia pole, as the hoop is not as extreem. I tried that on the front and the pole cracked right away. the front has quite the bow to it, and the Dia of the pole is a mire .275. I only spent $25 on the tent. And so far it's been a dry season inside of it. A tent that can go through heavy rains and 2 day soakers is worth a few more bucks.

Oh, I forgot, the poles probably have to be "pre-bent" at the factory. Try the Rainy Pass website for more info and maybe email for pole help.

Thanks Tipi

You probably already found this:

http://www.polesforyou.com/

Just did and already got prices from them. i think I'll try one of their fiberglass poles. Has to be better than those aftermarket poles at those supper stores.

Has any one tried these. I'll wait a week before buying to get some responses.

Thanks Tipi

I ordered one from them but it is not fiberglass, and I provided all of the specs...original segment specs
Easton high-grade aluminum 7075 /.490

I gave them my specs, but changed the segments from 4 to 5 to better fit my backpack.

So how do you like them?

The neat thing is you can order a beefier set with a bigger diameter and thereby strengthen any tent within limits.

Easton rocks...

If you really like the tent, I would suggest spend the extra and get the aluminum. They weigh less, last longer, and if they break in the field can be repaired where fiberglass usually will fray and splinter, making a repair nearly impossible.

I've read somewhere that if you pack aluminum poles with play sand you can bend them without breaking. The poles on my Nemo have acquired a small bent over time anyway.

I can see that working Franc. I have bent steel pipe many times over the years for decorative handrails by packing them with sand, then heating them to make the bend. The sand prevents the steel pipe from collapsing under the stress and heat. It should work the same for aluminum poles, as the sand will keep the stress from causing too sharp of a bend by adding resistance.