Tent Poles

[sclittlefield]

Are there any better (read lower cost) sources for light weight tent poles than:

Aluminum: Quest Outfitters

Carbon Fiber: Fibraplex

??

Just looking to source some things for prototyping.

[NCPatrick]

Don't know about lightweight, but I collected this link a while back.

[gargoyle]

I know opie referenced some from Easton. It was in a earlier post about the double line tarp. This thread , page two.




edit: doh!, those are from quest,.....my bad. sorry.

[opie]

Ive had very good luck with Quest. Im glad Grizz turned me onto them.

Shipping is super fast and commuication is superb.

[jbryan]

IIRC when I ordered my poles from Quest I asked them "to package as small as possible to save on shipping" and they did. They returned about $2 from original quote and it came in about a week from when I sent the order in. Really nice people too.

[JohnSawyer]

Why not bamboo?

http://gearjunkie.com/the-gear-junki...boo-tent-poles

Depending on what lengths you want, if you're looking for small stuff, sometimes RC Aircraft stores and Kite stores will have varying sizes of CF tubes. JB-Weld on the right diameter aluminum tubing, and you're off...

http://www.sureflite.com/sureflite/s...&search=carbon

These guys are local to me... If you know what you want, I'm over there all too often if they can't ship, I can... I figure I might need fabric anyway...

[Mountainfitter]

How many poles are you looking for?

[Browny]

Archery suppliers? You can get different diameter arrow shafts and sleeve em if you need length. Easton is actually an archery manufacturer.

[sclittlefield]

How many poles are you looking for?

Probably not enough, yet, for wholesale, but we'll see. I'd love to get my hands on 30 or so segments of about 18" to work with.

Archery suppliers? You can get different diameter arrow shafts and sleeve em if you need length. Easton is actually an archery manufacturer.

I'm in contact with Easton directly now. Thanks everyone for your help - especially you jdempsey!

[Kier]

I am currently using giant reed rivercane of the arundo donax variety for ultralight tent poles.

It is much like bamboo and much lighter, but not quite as strong as bamboo.

It is extremely light weight (probably best measured in grains compared to ounces) and best used if your tent or tarp needs are not heavy at all, say for ultralight tarps between 5x7 or 6x8. The one seen on my current avatar is about 40 inches long and weighs a little less then an ounce and it is holding up a 5x7 tarp setup as a rectangular wind shed or Holden tent and it held fine all night testing in constant winds of 30 to 35 mph with occasional stronger gusts.

I suppose if the diameter is thick enough, it could be used on a 8x10 but I would not trust it for anything thing bigger than that, because it might start bending at that point. For anything bigger I would use bamboo or something more conventional.

It should be fire treated to straighten it and to kill off any chance of it spreading because it is considered an invasive species nuisance plant to North America.

The ends should be whipped with some type reinforcement thread and it could be used with another plant called mulefat or willow inserted into the open cord reinforced ends to be used as mildly bendable portions for possible shaped tent use.

I also like the idea of using archery equipment for tent pole use.