Olddog Stand Ridgepole Endcaps question

[MidTNJohn]

Just got back from Home Depot with parts....
The end caps with eyelets feel CHEAP.

Any horror stories?
I know I could just drill the pole and put Eyebolts on it.

Looking forward to putting it together tomorrow.
Thanks

[olddog]

A lot of people have questioned them but my experience has been good and I haven't heard of any failures.

[dkurfiss]

My experience was not so good. When using the end caps my top rail bowed enough that it went "pop". Now I never ended up on the ground but it sure got my attention. I moved over to eye bolt drilled through the rail and all the bow went away.

[MidTNJohn]

We have to keep SOME excitement don't we ?

If I was clipping a safety harness on a Tree climb I would be skeptical of the end caps.
But I'll try them out in the back yard.

Thanks!

[Randy]

I just did the eye bolts, works fine for me...

[MidTNJohn]

Something else...the eyes in these end caps are too small for Caribiners...I rigged it by clipping an open Caribiner into the end of the pipe.

I'm guessing an open Caribiner is stronger than these end caps anyway...

[MidTNJohn]

I picked up some shackles to try in the end caps. Avoiding eye bolts as I want an easy option for a longer pole .
I guess I could just add one extension in the middle ...

[olddog]

I use the quikclips, just make sure that they are closed before loading. Olddog's Turtlelady Stand 009.jpg