The Camping Forum

[AlanI]

After many years of owning a small 'crawl in, crawl out' type tent (Hilleburg Staika) that, due to it's extremely light weight suited my wife and I admirably when touring with our motorbikes, we have now moved upmarket to a more luxurious style of tent more befitting to our age. To that end we have recently purchased an Outwell Bear Lake 4 which we have yet to pitch........that happens this Saturday.

Having emptied the bag in which the poles came supplied and subsequently spending the best part of 30 minutes sorting out the mess that the poles had gotten themselves into in that they resembled spaghetti in their entanglement, one thing immediately became obvious..........replacing a shock cord was going to be a nightmare, at least on the face of it. The Outwell web site offers no advice on this matter and I haven't been able to locate any advice in this regard either here on the forum or any of the millions of videos that YouTube have regarding tents.

When the sections are joined together both ends are open-ended to allow insertion of the pins. Peering down the poles using a pen torch there appears to be some sort of retaining part securing the shock cord but with no obvious access to it. As the cords themselves appear to be somewhat on the thin side compared to other tent poles that I have seen it is my intention to carry some spare along when the tent actually gets put to use. However, having some spare cord and not knowing what to do with it is like having no spare at all. So the question is, can anyone offer advice or point me in the direction of a tutorial/video tutorial of how one goes about replacing the shock cord on the Bear Lake 4 poles. Thanks in advance.

[AlanI]

Well then, 28 views and no response. I take it then that either nobody owns an Outwell Bear Lake 4 tent, has never experienced a broken shock cord or knows of no way to replace one.

For info, I received the following reply from Outwell in reply to the same question I posted here. This is the reply that I received a short time ago:

At the moment we don’t have a spare part for replacing a broken shock cord. So the pole will have to be replaced.

Please contact the dealer from which you bought the tent and ask if they can supply you with a new pole

I don't actually have a broken shock cord at this time so obviously they have misunderstood my question. From the response, however, it appears that it is NOT possible to replace something as simple as a shock cord with this tent (and others using the same design perhaps) and that the entire pole, by which I am interpreting this to mean, the entire 5 sections, need to be replaced. This response worries me somewhat as I can envisage a time/situation when a shock cord breaks and the manufacturer (Outwell) no longer have in stock this particular design of pole.

[badger]

Knowing the guys and girls on this forum i bet most googled for you in case you missed something? Alas it looks like nobody found anything of use. I had a look for you but had no joy!!! I a solo camper so larger tents are not my field but you gave enough info for me to go on.... Take the whole thing to the store i guess. Before you do that,i would erect it again and take a video or pics on your phone to show the store manager.... That might work. Save you putting it up in the shop!!!! Good luck.

[CrazyCamper]

Same here too - did exactly the same - even went to the 'other' forum in a search

It's not that anyone's being ignorant - it's just not an easy thing to answer I'm afraid. There's also the forum campout meeting going on from today so a lot of members are not online as they usually are (yet)... so patience please

[Camp Moose]

Dunno what your poles are like but have replaced shock cord recently in mine.
Get some shock cord some cotton & a nail.
tie knot in one end of shock cord.
to other end tie cotton that is long than the pole section.
tie nail to that.
drop nail down middle of pole , grab cotton & pull shock cord is through.
repeat process until all poles are threaded through the shock cord.
tie know in other end. cut off cotton.
viola , tent poles rethreaded with shock cord.
as I say dunno it that'll work on a Bear Lake pole.

[OutdoorRambo]

Sorry you didn't get many replies to your query but maybe some people were confused.

I assume you're talking about the actual cord running through the poles as opposed to the poles themselves?, if so then there's lots of shock cord repair kits available for around a fiver or less (http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=shock+cord+repair+kit&tag=googhydr-21&index=aps&hvadid=9553650836&ref=pd_sl_23smjj9cfy_e)

Most good camping shops stock them.

I wouldn't worry too much if the cord breaks as won't affect the stability of the tent or the structural integrity of the set of poles (it just helps you to connect lots of little poles and keeps all the little poles of the same size together).

If you're worried about a pole actually breaking then a Ferrule (one size bigger than the pole) and some Duct Tape are always a useful addition to your repair kit.

[CrazyCamper]

Part of the problem with replying to the OP is that this Outwell has metal poles NOT fibreglass, and if there is something in the open ends retaining the shock cord then it's going to be a problem getting out unless someone has the answer to that? That's what Google is throwing back anyway - I've even watched several Video's on Youtube to find an answer but to no avail....

Even I've done fibreglass pole shock cord replacement but this is different I suspect....

[OutdoorRambo]

Part of the problem with replying to the OP is that this Outwell has metal poles NOT fibreglass, and if there is something in the open ends retaining the shock cord then it's going to be a problem getting out unless someone has the answer to that? That's what Google is throwing back anyway - I've even watched several Video's on Youtube to find an answer but to no avail....

Well why didn't you say that in the first place!

[CrazyCamper]

Me? Why..... I spent ages googling to find that out myself, as there had been no replies at first

[Gillsy]

I bought a set of replacement poles & shock cord from camping international. There not specific to a certain tent, but will do in an emergency. My Dad also made me a device to thread the cord through.

[AlanI]

Apologies to those who read my posts as either lacking in 'patience', being 'ignorant' or indeed expressing frustration - it certainly wasn't meant to come across that way. English is not my first language so I shall try harder when choosing my words/expressions on future occasions. I trust that my spelling is in order though?

Yes, the Bear Lake 4 poles are metal. Sorry I didn't mention that in my first post as I'd assumed that most would know that the BL4 had metal poles. Wrong.

@ Camp Moose. Sounds like a good suggestion other than the fact that the cord doesn't in fact extend out of the poles themselves i.e. no knot appears or can be placed on the outside. Instead, when looking down the two outer sections (5 in total) there appears to be some form of bracket approx 2-3 cm into the pole to which the cord is secured. Your method works fine (and I've actually used it) when the final knots are tied and appear outside of the poles themselves.

@Crazy Camper. Spot on.

Also thanks to others that have posted - notes taken.

[PJM]

Hi, To get hold of the shock cord on a fibreglass pole I use a set of long tweezers/forceps that grip the shock cord and hold on enabling you to extract the end and untie the knot. They can be found in Maplins in the UK.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/140mm-stainless ... eps-219407

[Wayne]

Hi Alan.

I wouldn't worry too much, I have a couple of Outwells and both have steel poles. I know the poles on the Pollycottons are actually Alloy poles, but i think its fair to treat them the same as the Polyester tents with steel poles.

Anyway, my point.

I have a couple of sections on my steel poles where the shock cord has snapped. On the steel poles the cords are actually steel thread on springs, and the springs are actually fitted within the tube. The good news is, that unlike the fibreglass poles where the shock cord elastic runs from the first pole to the final pole and if it snaps all the poles separate, the steel poles are individually joined and as such only the broken section separates. The cord isn't needed for the integrity of the tent when its erected, its purely for keeping the sections together that belong together and also for ease when inserting and removing the poles.

I have to admit though, I might be tempted to try and take a closer look at the broken section on my steel poles and try to figure out a fix .

That all said, the Alloy poles might be different to the steel poles and I'm just assuming there the same

[OutdoorWorldDirect]

Usually if we have issues with Bear Lake poles we send them back or request new ones, if you only just bought the tent, then maybe you should take it back for some advice. I'm sure the place you bought it from can reassemble and thread the poles correctly. It's not too much effort.

Cheers
David

[AlanI]

@ Wayne......yes I see what you are getting at and in fact I have a mixture of the two. I think the attached image should help to clear this up. Essentially the two thinner steel poles (3 sections each) which are used to support the side door if used and open are held together by spring cords as you suggest. The normal tent supporting poles (5 in total each containing 5 sections) are held together using conventional nylon cord. It is the latter that I foresee as being an area of concern - to me anyway - as when the tent is being erected 'pins' have to be inserted into the bottom of the poles. The securing mechanism for the nylon cord is therefore set deeper into the end poles so as to leave room for the insertion of the pins and there appears to be no access to the cord securing mechanism by the user. Again I think the screenshots should make this clearer.

@OutdoorWorldDirect.......thanks for your post but if my earlier posts have not made this clear, I do NOT at this time have a problem with the poles or, more precisely, with the shock cords. However, like most campers I like to take along a small collection of spares should the unexpected happen and this has previously included spare shock cords. From my observations though, and from previous comments posted it does not appear that shock cord replacement in the main pole sections is a user achievable job and that the entire damaged pole (all 5 sections) need to be returned to the supplier.