The ‘How to’ for Pole Repairs
By Cam Johnson
Please use caution when doing these repairs. Recognize that there is the risk of burning oneself or getting fibreglass slivers, etc. Campers Village is not responsible for any injury incurred as a result of performing your own pole repairs (whether you use our instructions or not).
Note: There is always the option of purchasing a new set (or part of a set) of poles if it’s warranted. If they’re lost, what else can you do?! Whatever the case, work smarter, not harder; ask a friendly village person for the low down, and they’ll gladly help you out.
There are three things that can happen to your fibreglass tent pole that necessitates repairs.
1. The fibreglass section breaks (either right in two or lengthwise), or the section cracks and bends near the end.
2. The metal piece (the ferrule) breaks or bends.
3. The shock-cord that holds the sections together breaks, frays, or loses its elasticity.
Replacing Broken
Pole Sections
Fixing broken sections of fibreglass poles is surprisingly easy!
Required Materials
• Knife or scissors
• One or two clamps (spring loaded or vice-grips): two makes things easier, but only one is necessary
• Hack saw
• File
• Table vice (optional)
Step-By-Step Procedure
1. Start by preparing a pole section of the same width and length. Measure length from the middle of the ferrule to the end of the pole and measure the diameter with a micrometer (usually in millimetres but sometimes also in calibre (fraction of an inch in thousandths)).
a. To cut a pole down to size, (this is where the table vice may come in handy) score around the circumference of the section using a hack saw. This is done to prevent the pole from splitting as there is a shell surrounding the softer core. Cut the remainder of the way through the pole.
b. Use the file to round the edge of the pole and remove all burrs and splinters; this prevents the poles from snagging and catching your tent and shock cord, and also makes working with the poles much more pleasant!
2. Next you’re going to disassemble the pole to get at the broken section(s). Look at the sections on either end of the pole. The section with fewer open-ended ferrules is the one you will remove.
a. Pull as much shock-cord as possible from the end of the pole that you won’t be disassembling into the end that you will be disassembling and put the clamp between the broken section and the last good section.
b. Now undo the knot at the end of the pole that you’re going to disassemble. If the knot is inside an open-ended ferrule, you can use tiny pliers to get it out or you can force the knot out by pushing the shock-cord from the other end; or, if the knot is inside a pointed steel cap (or a rounded rubber one) which is held on by hot glue. (This hot glue is another business that I’ll address in the ‘Replacing a Damaged Ferrule’ section). You can just cut the cord next to the knot, that way you’ll get a clean end to feed through later.
c. Next pull all the sections up to and including the broken one off of the shock-cord.
3. Now reassemble the pole by threading the good sections on to the shock-cord (we chose that end of the pole to disassemble earlier so that we wouldn’t have to thread into the ferrule now.) About every two sections or so you’ll have to stretch the shock-cord in the sections you just put on and clamp it so you’ll have enough to comfortably get to the end. When you get to the end, re-tie the knot and re-attach the end cap if there was one.
Replacing a Damaged Ferrule
This problem is less likely than a damaged fibreglass section to occur, but hey, it happens.
Required Materials
• Spring loaded clamp or vice grips
• Pliers or table vice
• Replacement ferrule.
• Propane or butane torch
• Hot glue or glue-gun
Step-By-Step Procedure
1. The first step is to get to the pole section with the damaged ferrule. Follow the same procedure as in fixing a damaged section step.
2. Ensure that your replacement ferrule is the right size to fit your pole; to assess the proper size you can compare the size to the ones already on your pole, measure with a micrometer or try fitting the ferrule on an open end of the pole.
3.The ferrules are held on by hot glue.
a. To remove the ferrule you’ll first need to heat the ferrule using your torch so that the glue melts or softens and you can slide the ferrule off using your pliers or table vice. Heating the ferrule for the right amount of time can be a bit of an art but the easiest solution for this problem is to heat the ferrule for short periods of time and try to pull it off. Be careful; if the ferrule isn’t hot enough it won’t slide off the pole, but if the ferrule becomes too hot it is possible to melt or burn the fibreglass underneath the ferrule.
4. At this point we glue on the replacement ferrule.
a. Start by cleaning off any glue residue left on the pole.
b. Next apply some hot glue right near the end of the pole. You don’t need glue everywhere because the glue will slide down the pole when the ferrule is put on.
c. Now slide the ferrule onto the end over the hot glue. Tap the ferrule on the ground or with a hammer to ensure that the ferrule is all the way on the pole. Ferrules are crimped in the middle so that they don’t slide on to the pole too far, so hammer away.
5. Last, reassemble the pole as we did in Step 3 of Fixing a Damaged Fibreglass Section.
Replacing Damaged
Shock-Cord
This is the easiest fix of all the things that can go wrong with your tent pole.
Required Materials
• Shock-cord
• Spring loaded clamp or vice grips
Step-By-Step Procedure
1. You know your shock-cord needs to be replaced when
a. It’s broken
b. The sheath is fraying
c. It seems to have lost its elasticity
2. Start by measuring your pole.
a. Measure the entire length of your tent pole and multiply that length by 0.8. That’s the length of relaxed shock-cord you’ll need to put in your pole. The shock-cord is shorter than the complete pole because the shock-cord needs to be tight, otherwise the pole will fall apart easily when you are setting up your tent.
b. Choose the thickest shock-cord that you can fit inside of your pole, the thicker the better, but if it’s too thick it will be a pain to thread through the pole.
3. Remove the old shock-cord from your pole
a. You might need to remove end-caps.
4. Now we’re going to install the new shock-cord
a. Begin by tying a knot in one end of the cord. Something bigger than a half-hitch but not too big.
b. Thread the other end into one end of your pole. It’s easiest to thread the cord into the section that has (had) two ferrules or a ferrule and an end-cap on it. That’s because you can thread the cord directly into the pole instead of through the ferrule then into the pole.
c. About every two sections you’ll need to stretch as much cord as possible out of the sections you just threaded and clamp the cord off to allow for enough excess cord to get to the end comfortably.
d. Tie a knot in the other end of the pole.
5. Re-glue the end caps if you had to remove some earlier.
Happy Camping!
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