UKH

I would like to replace the poles on a budget tent with aluminium poles. The tent is a Decathlon Arpenaz 3XL and Decathlon have told me they don't sell aluminium poles for this model. I have found a couple of options for ordering pole sections of custom dimensions.

My questions:
1) Do the replacements have to be the same dimensions as the originals? (the original glass fiber pole sections are various lengths and diameters) or will they be OK as long as the total length is the same?
2) Will the aluminium poles bend, or do they need to be pre-bent? (its a dome tent with a porch

Cheers
Tim

In reply to tim87dj:

This tent?

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/arpenaz-xl-3-tent-green-id_8300439.html

You're likely to spend more on replacement poles than the £45 this tent costs...

Seems to be nice for a threesome, according to the Decathlon video...

youtube.com/watch?v=AiKoCdEt4yo&

Provided the poles are simple, and are of the same diameter throughout, and don't have any funny features, then, provided the total length is the same, you will be fine. Get something of a similar diameter; don't get 13mm alloy poles to replace 8.5mm fibre poles...

Provided the bend radius is sensible (and if you're replacing fibre poles that aren't already shaped (not that I think these exist...)) the aluminium poles will bend and will not need pre-bending.

Hampton Works is a possible source of replacement poles.

In reply to tim87dj:
As stated above, it's not cheap, at the best price I can see it's going to cost you £20 a pole. How much weight do to think you can cut off the tent by changing the poles? Are the pegs steel or alloy? If steel, buying alloy pegs would probably be worthwhile.

Edit: eBay could be your friend, you can get a random set of 8.5 mm poles for £11

In reply to gethin_allen:

Thanks for the replies. Yes that's the tent, I know its cheap but it does a good job for the price. We need to replace a snapped segment anyway and are planning on taking it abroad for a hiking trip, which is why I was thinking of getting aluminium poles to save weight. Having thought about it a bit more though its probably not worth the cost and we'll probably stick with glass fibre.

In reply to tim87dj:
Alloy poles might be worth a thought from a reliability point of view if you're hiking with it though.

It could be worth buying a couple of sets for £11 each from ebay and setting to with a hacksaw to make them into a set which matches?

In reply to Timmd:
"Alloy poles might be worth a thought from a reliability point of view "

In my experience it's only ever been alloy poles that have caused me any problems. I always take a pole repair sleeve and some gaffer tape with me when i go away now.

In reply to tim87dj:

As I said before, definitely worth replacing the steel pegs with some good alloy ones. They aren't expensive and will save you considerable weight.

In reply to gethin_allen:
There's probably a reason why mountain tents costing £100's have alloy poles and £50 valley tents have fibre glass poles, though.

In reply to Timmd:

My experience is probably because the fiberglass poles are heavy and built to be beefy because they know you are highly unlikely to be carrying it any real distance. Whereas alloy poles are slimmed down as far as possible resulting in a lightweight but not so robust pole.

In reply to gethin_allen:
I dunno, my Quasar has been okay in gusts of 90mph, it was in a slightly sheltered corner, but I had to push pegs in and things each morning.

I guess not all alloy poles are made equal, but you don't seem to get expedition tents with anything other than alloy poles...

Try http://www.eastonpoles.com/

In reply to tim87dj:

Fibre glass becomes brittle under uv light, aluminium can bend and break if poorly specced, carbon fibre or alloys are best

In reply to alexgoodey:

'Best' is always an interesting word. Which particular quality are you judging things on? 'Light, strong, cheap: pick any two' comes to mind.

Fibreglass poles are cheap and heavy. They're not likely to suffer significant UV degradation before the flysheet.

You won't find a pure aluminium pole; they will all be alloys of some kind, e.g. Easton's Expedition series in 7075-T9 heat-treated aluminium alloy. Note that these poles are intended to be strong enough for expeditions, so there's nothing inherently wrong with aluminium alloy poles.

Carbon fibre poles are light but expensive. When they fail, they tend to fail catastrophically, fracturing into sharp pieces that can tear the flysheet. Metal poles tend to fail more gracefully by bending.

Other metal alloys are used for poles, such as Yunan's scandium-based poles. Lighter but more expensive than aluminium.

So, in the end, you pays your money and takes your choice; as with almost everything, it's a compromise.

In reply to captain paranoia:

"Metal poles tend to fail more gracefully by bending."

The vango and DAC poles I had fail snapped catastrophically and tore the flysheet.

In reply to gethin_allen:

No dispute here; I did say 'tend to', not 'always', for the behaviours of both types of pole...