PDA

View Full Version : Shock cord troubles



Two Speed
10-03-2005, 18:23
While rumbling through my gear I pulled out my SD Lightyear. I haven't been using it since I got a SMD Lunar last spring, but I like to make sure all my gear is good to go, in case I loan it out, go car camping, etc. Anyway, the shock cord in both tent poles was WAY stretched out. I always equalize the tension in the cord when packing the tent and it hasn't been exposed to any chemicals that I know of, nor has the temperature been extreme. I know this because my hiking gear sits in the front room of my condo, central heat and air has been working and I don't keep any fuel (coleman or alcohol) or solvents in that room. I'm more than a little bugged because the shock cord in my previous Sierra Designs product, a Clip Flashlight, lasted better than ten years. My Lightyear is an '02 so I was expecting at least seven more years, minimum, before having to swap the cord out. In fact I've got a Eureka Timberline that's a few years older and the cord in the tent poles on that beast is just fine, and those poles have been treated the same, stored in the same area, etc. Of course I've replaced the cord, that's no big deal, but I'd really like to know what caused that. Any ideas?