Tarp Poles for Wilderness Logics OMW and OES 10' x 12'

Been tweaking with poles to spread tarp out holding the side tie outs out, and was using some aluminum arrow shafts I had laying around, total length of each spreader pole is 48" like AHE new Hardrock Tarp. I will say this, Arrowhead has a perfect set of carbon poles that have the more perfect bend to them, but what I divised is perfect for when you don't have a way for tie outs, and spreads the insides of the tarp immensely giving you tons of space inside. I know these pics don't show the way I would like them too, but for now, as quick as I threw everything together, I will take some better pics later. What I used was Easton aluminum arrow shafts, cut into 3 sections, 2 ends had the 5/16 nocks on them that you use to put your piece of 1/8 bungie chord into, and glued with hot melt glue, was a 2 inch piece of aluminum arrow shaft for the coupler. The size of the arrow shafts I used, for the 48" -3 piece was Easton 2413, and for the 2 " insert coupling was 2117. For anybody that hasn't worked with aluminum arrows, the key is not to over heat the aluminum as your using your hot melt glue to sliding in the 2 inche piece of 2117 because if you overheat aluminum arrow shafts you will crystalize the aluminum causing it to become very brittle and thus breaking.
If you had to go out and buy the aluminum shafts, 4 nocks, and glue, you would probably have approx. 40.00 in it for the 2 pole sets. Total weight is only 2.5 oz for both making them very packable. I used black 2413 shafts on the Wilderness Logics Oldman Winter tarp, and orange 2413 shafts for the OES 10' x 12'. I hung the OMW with the doors tied back across the outside leaving it open trying to give you a picture of the immense inside spread, and the just tied down the OES in standard tarp form. Both tarps were hung with the sides 1' off the ground and very tight. There was quite a breeze today of 5 to 10 mph giving me a decient test for hanging. If you decide to do this with carbon arrow shafts, your costs will double so its very hard to beat AHE's price of their carbon poles for their new tarp. I just happen to have all these materials stocked at home from past shooting experiences and was tinkering around. Paul, at Arrowhead Equipment has a tarp pole set that in my opinion cannot be beat. Here is a link to his Hardrock Pole set for his new Hardrock Tarp.
http://arrowheadequipment.webs.com/a...s/show/2845425

MONSTER ! great idea man. you can get 2 hammocks and a "clown car" under there.
just bee careful, those clowns get mischievous if you let them out :scared:

Also, I used a small copper water line tube cutter to cut the arrow shafts as gently as possible, and a round file to just debur the insides without taking any metal off the insides of the shaft as your only dealing with 13 thousandths thickness. Its the only shafts I had that would go snug fit sliding inside each other to make this workable. Might want to consider alittle thicker wall arrow shafts. 14 or even 15 thousandths thickness as not sure of durablitity. Only time will tell,,if they were carbon,,I wouldn't worry at all, as carbon is pretty stout and hard to break.

That looks great. I'm thinking of a pole mod for my tarp, but its a ways down on the "to do" list. Great job!

yeah I'm really looking for a pole mod.. the idea of not running another set of lines is VERY appealing.. it seems to be self tensioning as well.. very KISS

And you can always down size the size of the arrow nock at the end of the arrow shaft to accomodate the dia. size of the chord you use on each of the tarp tie outs. I plan on doing that to the set that goes to the OES 10' x 12' tarp for non slippage on it, the larger 5/16 nock was perfect on the OMW tarp. Both tarps weren't maxed out on inner room at 48 inches, if you made them 3-4 inches longer, you might get alittle more width inside, but at 48" long, it was very nice and open of which in the summer, even in porch mod, this would hold the tarp up moreso allowing for more air movement underneath. I can see all kinds of pluses to this and will carry the pole mods with me always whether I use them or not. At 2.5 ozs a set, its a definite plus and you don't have to carry extra line if you don't want to for the additional tie outs.

Very cool idea! I don’t have the loops to insert the poles on my tarp...

On the OES 10' x 12' tarp I use grip clips and changed the loops to 1/8 thick shock chord and the arrow nocks stick better to the 1/8 in. If your grip clips slip alittle use a piece of balloon or a piece of latex rubber on grip clip and it won't slide on the sil nylon if that is what your tarp is made from. Grip clips can be had from here:
http://shelter-systems.com/gripclips/products.html

I'm using my hiking poles with my Big Daddy in the same fashion .. I''l put up some pics tomorrow .. My only concern is the friction caused with the tarp between the RL and poles. I had this set-up last night and this morning inspected it well .. I saw nothing of concern and had a slight breeze last night .. my other concern is if it set like this is rain..I don't know if the contact points will cause a "leak" .. I'm using 1.75 Lash-It and it seems to be very slippery ..
I'm thinking of cutting a small piece of CCF with two holes that'll sit on the RL .. but that might cause more friction .. we'll see this set-up works great

Here's how I use my hiking poles .. I had some really hard rain last night and 15mph winds gusting to 25mph .. my concern about the contact areas causing leakage never came about .. stayed dry the whole night..
http://www.hammockforums.net/gallery...1226_thumb.jpg