Cracked Vango Tent Poles - suggested repair

[g.meredith]

There have been many comments on the fragility of Vango tent poles on this forum. I now consider myself to be an authority on the issue. My last camping trip ensured that (five cracked in four weeks)
I now use pneumatic airline for a robust and permanent repair - 12mm OD - 10mm ID. Cheap at £3.20 per metre and a nice tight fit over the offending crack. I use about 5cm per pole. The airline is light and it is feasible to reinforce all the joint ends, on a new tent to help prevent the inevitable failure. Especially useful if one has a old tent and it's not worth purchasing new poleset. Goes some way to negating a weakness in what are otherwise good value and well designed tents.

You will need to ascertain the diameter of your poleset as it varies between models and year of manufacture. The easiest way to do this is to visit http://www.campingspares.co.uk/3-vango-spares and navigate to the relevant poleset were you will find a data sheet with the correct diameter.

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FLEXIBLE-NYLON-PNEUM ... Q4IxdOVtzA

[Heltor Chasca]

Thanks for sharing. I use that air hose stuff for all sorts. Saving my racks from the diamond, tiger teeth that Ortlieb use on their pannier bags in my favourite bodge.

I like your suggestion. I once used a tube of ali on a break and it wore a hole in the tent [emoji37]

[g.meredith]

And not just Vango. This trick will work on most tents assuming one can source the correct inside diameter of pneumatic airline, for your poleset.

[mercalia]

how do you use it? just slide it over? how does that help? I would have thought some kind of shrink wrap, the kind to put over electrical jointed wires or terminations better?

[landsurfer]

Adhesive heat shrink. . Perfect.
But not as effective as a warranty claim ....

[Heltor Chasca]

I have not used shrink wrap so I couldn't comment. At a guess: Air hose/airline adds only 2mm extra and in my experience is robust, but flexible. I think it would be better than my half-job. The ali sleeve didn't flex and that's why it wore a hole in the tent.

Only a guess: Our esteemed OP knows best. I'm keen to try it out as I've still got the bust pole.

[g.meredith]

how do you use it? just slide it over? how does that help? I would have thought some kind of shrink wrap, the kind to put over electrical jointed wires or terminations better?

Stand 5 cm of air hose on a level surface and force the tent pole end into the hose. It forms a tight fit that closes the crack and prevents it from splaying open.

[Kapalasa]

Rather like the invention of the wheel, this is simple genius and I'm amazed that mankind hasn't thought of this before. Thank you Sir

[Sweep]

Many thanks for this meredith.

That size of tubing you recommend is for Vango's standard poles? Which are I think specced at 8.5mm??

I agree about vango's tents - they do some really nice designs for cycle tourists at good prices (especially so in frequent sales) but the poles are ****. Would be good if they offered the backpacking tents with a choice of poles, standard and premium, but this would of course imply, correctly, that the normal poles are so dodgy.

Look forward to you answering my pedantic query and then maybe my two vango tents can have long and happy lives.

[Heltor Chasca]

Can I also add to Chairman Meredith's newly formed 'Air hose Appreciation Club'?

It makes a far more satisfactory spacer for mudguards by the chainstay/bottom bracket bridge. Flexible and silent. The supplied ali ones aren't as easy to cut to size; offer no give if you suck up a stick and they work loose quicker than the rubber ones I've made.

[sabrutat]

Wish I'd have seen this thread eariler! I had a similar problem with the Vango poles, to the point where I was considering buying a more expensive tent, until I found these repair tubes for far cheaper than I'd seen anywhere else. They shipped from China, hence the cost, but I was in no rush.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B017K1QWY4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Heltor Chasca]

Wish I'd have seen this thread eariler! I had a similar problem with the Vango poles, to the point where I was considering buying a more expensive tent, until I found these repair tubes for far cheaper than I'd seen anywhere else. They shipped from China, hence the cost, but I was in no rush.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B017K1QWY4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Similar to the sleeve that damaged my tent. I hope yours work out ok.

In defence of Vango, the poles on my 15+ year old tent were fantastic. It was a join that went. The poles on my daughter's Banshee are doing good but there is little pressure on them anyway. OEX sell pole replacements.

[sabrutat]

Similar to the sleeve that damaged my tent. I hope yours work out ok.

In defence of Vango, the poles on my 15+ year old tent were fantastic. It was a join that went. The poles on my daughter's Banshee are doing good but there is little pressure on them anyway. OEX sell pole replacements.

I haven't used them in anger yet, as I replaced the damaged pole sections first. My poles seemed to damage when I was perhaps a little too rough in handling them (I used to upend the tent to empty it of debris every morning, and that's when the damage was done, I think. Now I'm much more careful). I've never had a problem with them snapping in storm winds, and I've been in some humdingers.

Could you tell me exactly went wrong with your repair tube?

[Heltor Chasca]

Similar to the sleeve that damaged my tent. I hope yours work out ok.

In defence of Vango, the poles on my 15+ year old tent were fantastic. It was a join that went. The poles on my daughter's Banshee are doing good but there is little pressure on them anyway. OEX sell pole replacements.

....Could you tell me exactly went wrong with your repair tube?

Yes of course. Because the sleeve was bigger than the pole joints it was repairing (by about 10mm either side) and a stiff piece of ali, it didn't curve with the pole and cloth sleeve. Consequently there were 2 hot spots on the cloth where the ends of the ali sleeve were tight and dug in. I guess I should have tried pre-curving the ali sleeve before I used it. Hindsight.

That said, most tents these days have mesh pole sleeves, rather that passing through a 'tube' directly sewn into the tent fabric. You can cope with wear holes in the mesh and it doesn't compromise the tent's structure. If yours has mesh 'external' pole sleeves then you probably have nothing to worry about. HTH

[g.meredith]

Many thanks for this meredith.That size of tubing you recommend is for Vango's standard poles? Which are I think specced at 8.5mm??

I see your point.You will need to ascertain the diameter of your poleset as it varies between models and year of manufacture. The easiest way to do this is to visit http://www.campingspares.co.uk/3-vango-spares and navigate to the relevant poleset were you will find a data sheet with the correct diameter.