Bushwalk Australia

Would appreciate any advice please on how to dis assemble a pole for a Mac pac Olympus tent so that i can replace the pole section that I broke while putting my trusty tent up in a hurry in the rain at Oooze Lake this summer. First time I have broken a pole.... Bugger.
Cheers
Graeme

oh the post moved! LOL

unscrew/pull out the pole cap/nipple and expose the shock cord.

If I remember, I'll have a more careful look at my Olympus poles when I set it up at Lady Lake tomorrow night.

However, if memory serves me correctly, they are very similar to the poles on my old tent, which I fixed a couple of times. The trick is to get the caps/ends out. There is a slim possibility that they may be jammed in too tight to extract without damaging the poles. The elastic/shock cord is attached to these ends, so you need to get them out to detach the elastic. Even if you cut the elastic (and optionally replace it), you still need to get the ends out in order to reconnect the elastic (so best to not cut the elastic as you don't really gain anything!).

In my old poles, there was nothing but the friction of the pole and the tension of the elastic holding the ends in, but they were after market poles. The brand name poles may possibly be clamped for a more secure fit? That would make it much more difficult to remove the ends, but I'm just guessing having not tried it with the brand name poles.

I would suggest using pliers to try to pull the end out (perhaps twist it as you go) and use whatever means you can to grip the pole proper without damaging it too much.

If I remember correctly, re-tying the elastic afterwards was a bit tricky, as there's not a lot of excess length, and of course it's always trying to pull itself back through before you get it connected. I think it may be worth threading another thin piece of string back through, and tying this to the elastic and pulling it through that way. Once pulled through, get as much length as you can, then stand on it so that it doesn't whip backwards through the pole again while your trying to tie it to the end cap.

Please let us know how you went and how easy/difficult it was to do.

When you have pulled it through tie a clove hitch round a pen or pencil and you wont need to stand on it to prevent it whipping back.
c

Thanks folks appreciate the rapid feed back and good advice. I will return to the gentle coaxing and then if that doesn't work resort to swearing and a hammer.
Regards
Graeme

corvus wrote:tie a clove hitch

pick the scout!