Keeping your camping gear maintained is very important as over time wear and tear can make it fragile and easily breakable. The tent is one equipment that can really take a battering. It all really depends on the type of tent that you buy, but at the end of the day over time it will wear and tear. Depending on how often you camp and the time of year that you do camp weather conditions can certainly affect the lifespan of your tent, if you were unfortunate and were caught up in bad weather conditions your tent’s material could easily tear or even the poles could break or bend due to strain.
So, How to repair a bent tent pole?
- How can the tent pole bend
- How to repair a bent tent pole
- How to repair the broken cord
- How to repair the bent tent pole
- The first stage
- The second stage
- The third stage
- The fourth stage
The simple answer is that there are a few simple ways to repair the bent tent pole. One way is to replace the cord that keeps the poles together, and the other is using a simple tool to keep the bend straight and strong.
Let me explain this to you, even more deeper and it will help you get out of a situation that you might find yourself in some time.
How Can The Tent Pole Bend
There are two common ways in which the tent poles can bend. They are the following:
Broken Cord
Bent Poles
Broken Cord
The broken cord is what goes through the poles to bound them together, this keeps 2 or 3 more poles together and strengthens them, the elastic type rope is threaded through each pole at a time, and is finally threaded through a hole at the tops of the pole where they are then screwed into place or simply popped into the ends of the last poles.
Each pole has to be placed in order so knowing the numbers or where each pole fits would be good. Over time the rope can begin to lose it’s elastic as you tend to stretch the tent material as you push the poles through the tent to create it to become a shelter. Once the rope loses it’s elastic it can quite easily snap which will leave you tent weak and not stable to sleep in. You will then need to replace that broken cord in order for the framework to be strong again.
Bent Poles
Camping is all about weather conditions, it has alot of effects on your equipment, Your tent poles can take alot of strain and stress in severe weather if it is quite windy depending on the force of the wind, your poles can eventually give in and bend. Depending on the type of tent you do buy and the type of poles you do use they can bend with stress.
The other way that the poles can bend is through storing your tent away. It is quite easy to place your equipment in the garage where it is commonly known to be stored until you go camping, and when you do move items around you could bend the tent poles quite easily, so you would need to be a little careful.
How To Repair A Bent Tent Pole
Once you have the pole in front of you the first thing would be to assess how bad the bend is, If when you bend it back a little and it looks like it’s about to snap you will have to be a little cautious or just simply replace the whole pole.
if when you try to bend it back it usually leaves a kink but it can certainly sustain some stress, you will be fine to repair the pole.
The first thing that you will need are tools to help you get the job done.
Here’s what you will need:
1. A set of mole grips (locking pliers)
2. A pair of scissors
3. A replacement shock cord (length of your tent)
4. Some ducktape
5. A permanent marker
6. A sleeve or splint
How Do You Straighten A Bent Tent Pole
It’s quite a common problem that your tent pole can actually bend during your time camping. Even through distress while it has been stored away or even during high winds it just happens to bend.
After doing some research, I found a few techniques that can be effective in helping you straighten out your tent pole. The one different way is:
- Tube Straightener
Using The Tube Straightener
If you have ever used a plumber’s services in your own home you might have come across a tool that they use called a tube straightener. The beauty about this tool is that it is simple to use and pretty straight forward.
When it comes to the tool it has been on the market for a while now, and if your tent pole has bent it is a tool that is ever so effective and will straighten to look and feel as if its brand new.
A friend of mine who is a plumber used the tool in front of me one time and when I asked him if i could try it out on my bent tent pole, it worked like a charm. The pole was straight and it looked as if the bend never actually happend.
If you are interested in looking into the tool you can pick one up for just under $100. It does sound a little pricey, but if you invest in the tool once you can use it for months and years to come depending on how often you go camping or come across the bent tent pole problem.
How To Repair The Broken Cord
Make sure that you do have the necessary tools in front of you to repair the broken cord. I will explain how to repair the broken cord in a number of stages as it will be easier to explain.
The First Stage:
You will need to improvise at this beginning stage, you will need to find a ramrod made of either wood or metal that is a suitable size that will need to fit into the narrow poles, especially the male end. You have to understand that these rods are not already made just a simple ramrod that will do the job.
The Second Stage:
Take the rod and slide it down the pole entering from the male end which is narrow. You will eventually hit a knot in the pole which is holding the old shock cord in place. You will need to keep hitting at it until it dislodges so that you can push it out of the pole from the other end of the pole which is known as the female end.
The Third Stage:
You want to repeat the process explained above for the other poles. The shock cord is used on at least 2 to 3 poles to keep them together and so that storage can be easier.
The Fourth Stage:
Take the tent poles that were assembled and measure them from end to end, each pole should have indents on the outside of them, they are usually at the bottom of the poles. This is where the shock cord was fixed into place and knotted up, that’s where you want to start measuring from as the new cord will be knotted into the same place. If you do not have any indents don’t worry, just simply measure 4 to 6 inches in and create your own indents, that way you can knot the cord into place so you will need to do this in order to finish off the repair.
The Fith Stage:
You now need to cut some of the shock cord but make sure that when you do cut the cord it is longer then what you originally measured, the reason for this is because when you thread the shock cord through you will need to tie a knot to keep the cord in place.
The Sixth Stage:
Make sure the poles are laid down in a straight line, but without them being assembled. Take the shock cord that you have cut and thread it through each pole, once the cord is sticking outside of the female end of the poles. Which is also known as the female end.
The Seventh Stage:
Take one end of the cord and thread it through a metal washer that is small enough to fit inside of the pole, and simply tie a knot around it. If you do have a friend with you then simply get them to hold the pole tightly while you take the knotted cord and pull it towards the indented part of the pole at the base. If you do not have a friend available just place the pole into a vice and tighten it up. You should have made an indentation earlier which is where you will be placing the knotted part with a pair of pliers.
The Eighth Stage:
Just simply repeat the above stage seven for the other end of the pole. Once you have completed both ends you will have a pole with a new shock cord, so when the poles are together you will have the shock cord being loose, but once some pressure is applied to the poles the shock cord will tighten up once they are not fitted together.
How To Repair The Bent Tent Pole
Above I showed you how to repair the Shock cord which is used in the tent poles to keep them tightened and secure to build the structure of the tent. Now I will explain to you how to repair if the tent pole is bent.
The First Stage:
Take your pole and straighten it without tearing it. If you do you don’t need to panic just simply carry on reading to see how to solve that little issue. Once you have straightened the pole check the area to see if there are any jagged edges.
The Second Stage:
File any jagged edges that you find around that area with a metal filer. The reason for this is so that you don’t cut yourself or any further accidents that may occur in the future.
The Third Stage:
There are two ways to support the bend to strengthen it up. The first would be to use a tent pole splint, thread it through the pole to the point of where the bend is, and tear of some duct tape, and secure the splint in place with the duct tape. Wrap the duct tape around the tent pole and the splint together to keep them together and strong.
The second way to secure it if you don’t have access, to a splint and your in an emergency just simply use a tent stake and use duct tape to secure it in place. This will strengthen the tent pole and can be used perfectly fine.
The Fourth Stage:
Just simply secure the sleeve splint or tent stake with layers of duct tape to make it strong. if you do think you can use duct tape on its own you can but the support will be weaker so I suggest using the two support methods to strengthen the pole.
If you have another way of supporting your bent tent pole then please do leave your ideas in the comments below!