Repair for Tent Pole-to-Tent Connection (Not Backpacking Related)

[theinfamousj]

TRIGGER WARNING: Heavy tent.

I recently joined a group of friends on a car camp at Oregon Inlet on the NC coast. I was asked to bring a tent that could sleep 6+ so borrowed one of those fabric cabins with internal cloth room dividers. I had borrowed the same tent five years ago for the same campground so knew that with proper sand stakes, the tent would survive. It was an Ozark Trail brand.

Well, as luck would have it, an extremely windy torrential downpour hit us Friday night, combined with the fact that most of the camping group were engineers who thought that the more tension pulling the rainfly (not the tent) to the ground, the better. So the split rings that held those round pin things opened and at least one of the pins unbent We also lost a few fiberglass pole sections.

Any idea how to fix this? Split rings are easy because of keyrings. Do you know if hardware stores sell the pin things that go in the ends of some types of tent poles (as opposed to the connection where you stick the pole in a pocket or a grommet)? And if so, what they would be called?

Since I borrowed the tent, I would like to fix it and return it in usable condition.

Thanks all!

[Don H]

Depending on the maker of the tent you might be able to buy replacements from them.
Also companies like Camphor sell pole repair kits.

https://www.campmor.com/c/fiberglass-repair-and-replacement-pole-kit---11-mm-%287-16-in%29-diameter-61982

[nsherry61]

. . . engineers who thought that the more tension pulling the rainfly (not the tent) to the ground, the better. . .
And, they were probably right. And if it wasn't done that way, things probably would have been worse. And, if they were really smart engineers, they would have attached shock absorbers (bungees) between their stakes and guy points and would probably not have had any of those problems.

And those Ozark Trail tents can probably be replaced in their entirety for less than a new set of poles.

Good luck.

[theinfamousj]

And, they were probably right. And if it wasn't done that way, things probably would have been worse. And, if they were really smart engineers, they would have attached shock absorbers (bungees) between their stakes and guy points and would probably not have had any of those problems.

As cheap as Ozark Trail tents are, whoever engineered the rainfly built in bungee loops at all the tie out points. These guys eliminated those from their tie downs because they didn't like the wiggling. :: eyeroll ::

Never mind that the tent had unused tie downs which, when I went out at 2 am in the downpour and changed what was tied down and to where, let the shock cord loops do their thing on the rain fly, and the tent stood back up and didn't shake as much, the engineers were utterly confused as to why that all might work. Also, very few of them came with sleeping pads. ;)

[Bronk]

In the lower left of the first page of this PDF is I think what you are talking about...Kelty calls them spring pins, which fit into the end of the aluminum poles. I've never seen them for sale, even in tent repair kits. Your best bet may be to find somebody with a junk tent you can use for parts.

https://kelty.com/content/pdf/Tents/ACF292.pdf

[nsherry61]

At $99 for a completely new 6-person Ozark Trail tent (https://www.walmart.com/ip/10-x-9-Instant-Cabin-Tent-Sleeps-6/42206183), it may not be worth the time to think too hard about this.

[theinfamousj]

Found the pin things! And they even come with keyrings!

https://www.campmor.com/c/eureka-tent-pin-and-ring---short-21436

At that price, it is much cheaper to repair than replace. 2x pin-and-rings + 2x pole sections (donated by someone on Freecycle.org) and I am hoping to return the tent to its owner for under $20. #winning

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[rocketsocks]

TRIGGER WARNING: Heavy tent.

I recently joined a group of friends on a car camp at Oregon Inlet on the NC coast. I was asked to bring a tent that could sleep 6+ so borrowed one of those fabric cabins with internal cloth room dividers. I had borrowed the same tent five years ago for the same campground so knew that with proper sand stakes, the tent would survive. It was an Ozark Trail brand.

Well, as luck would have it, an extremely windy torrential downpour hit us Friday night, combined with the fact that most of the camping group were engineers who thought that the more tension pulling the rainfly (not the tent) to the ground, the better. So the split rings that held those round pin things opened and at least one of the pins unbent We also lost a few fiberglass pole sections.

Any idea how to fix this? Split rings are easy because of keyrings. Do you know if hardware stores sell the pin things that go in the ends of some types of tent poles (as opposed to the connection where you stick the pole in a pocket or a grommet)? And if so, what they would be called?

Since I borrowed the tent, I would like to fix it and return it in usable condition.

Thanks all!home depot has drawers full of crap, namely clevise, cotter, and shear pins...in the hardware isle.

[Just Bill]

http://tentpoletechnologies.com/

or quest outfitters- http://questoutfitters.com/tent_poles.htm

Sounds like you're good... but for others or future reference.