Introduction: Duct Tape Tent Pole Repair
This is a rather last minute entry into the instructables "Scotch Tough Duct Tape Great Outdoors Contest" as this instructable kinda just happened by accident. Last weekend I picked up a tent at a garage sale for $10. It was a score as this was a Taiga expedition 4 season base camp. Only problem was 2 of the poles shock cord were broken. Shock cord is the stretchy elastic linking the poles together. Now I thought to myself I will just buy some shock cord on line, as no one in town carries it. Well a week passed and sure enough we had a chance to do a little improv camping. Duct tape to the rescue! Follow the steps below or watch the video. I have to admit that the duct tape fix actually aided in the assembly of the tent. Ours is the kind where the poles are passed through a long sleeve, The one pole with the remaining shock cord, kept on coming apart in the sleeve, while the ones treated with duct tape slid through like butter!
- Count how many sections you need to make one pole and assemble
- Tear off a 1"x1" piece of duct tape
- Fold over 1/3 of an inch of the duct tape over itself, this will give you a stick free tab to remove the duct tape later
- Stick the duct tape patch over the joint of 2 sections, it does not need to wrap around the whole pole, 1/2 is more then enough and will facilitate removal after.
- Assemble your tent as normal!
- When your finished camping, undo the tent, removal the poles and grab those little tabs. They come off super quick - hooray!