Shortening tent poles: sanity check

[Tim Hall]

My scout troop has some Vaude Campo 3 tents. These are Fairly Good Quality 2/3 person hike tents. Pitch inner first, attach it to the two aluminium arch poles, throw flysheet over.  Here's the tricky bit. Push the "ridge" pole into a sleeve on the fly, locate the far end in a metal reinforced eyelet. Push pole, pull fly sheet towards you, curse sotto voce and finally get the other end in its reinforced eyelet.  There's a handy thumb loop to assist  with the pulling.

About 50s in this video

https://youtu.be/Y4eBLeMGlFs

Striking the tent is the reverse of this process.

Some of the tents are harder to pitch than others, due possibly to clash of tolerances - longer pole meets smaller flysheet. Would it be a Stupid Thing to cut say 5mm off a section of pole (clever use of a pipe cutter means the ends will be undisturbed) to make the whole process a smidgeon easier. Some of the (aluminium) poles have been permanently bent due to people struggling to put them up. 

(Supplementary question: how hard is it to straighten or at least slightly unbend an aluminium tent pole without it creasing or otherwise breaking?)

[Kim]

I shortened the poles on my Quick Hiker 3 by a few centimetres for exactly that reason.  Since this was a replacement for an identical tent with a manufacturing defect, I had a several of spare pole sections that I 'accidentally' forgot to return with the faulty one, so didn't feel bad about attacking them with a hacksaw and file.  It was considerably less effort than lengthening the webbing to the pole holdy things would have been.

I think the trick with un-bending aluminimum is not to even try unless you're prepared for it to break.

[Wobbly John]

I believe some Vango poles have threaded ends, so that you can unscrew and replace a section, maintaining the shock cord through it.

You may have trouble with the pipe cutter, as they are a pretty hard aluminium alloy.

I also have a box of spare bits of tent poles if you need something making...

[Cudzoziemiec]

I can't answer about shortening poles but I can say that my Trekkertent has a similar system and sometimes it's very easy, sometimes not. That's one tent so it varies on more factors than just length of pole v length of fly. I think wind can be a factor, as can the ground levels.

But it's a long time since I've heard the phrase 'strike tent' – in fact I don't think I've ever heard 'strike tent' before, only 'strike camp' – so now I'm wondering about its origins. I haven't any ideas yet, except that Collins marks it as American: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/strike-camp
I'm not entirely sure I agree with them.

[Polar Bear]

I have trimmed a Hilleberg tent pole with a pipe cutter.  It was to make a shorter end section replacement for my Nammatj 3GT.

I have one of those pipe radius bending tools which I suspect with some careful effort it might be possible to straighten some tent poles.  I will see if I can find a length of sacrificial tent pole to play with.  We have some very old Vango ally tent pole sections which get used as paint stirrers and general purpose prodders and pokers.

[Polar Bear]

Oh, have you tried doing a bit of mixing poles and flysheets?   

[Kim]

But it's a long time since I've heard the phrase 'strike tent' – in fact I don't think I've ever heard 'strike tent' before, only 'strike camp' – so now I'm wondering about its origins. I haven't any ideas yet, except that Collins marks it as American: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/strike-camp
I'm not entirely sure I agree with them.

Strike is one of the many theatre words that means the opposite of what you might assume...

(click to show/hide)

In is down, down is front
Out is up, up is back
Off is out, on is in
And of course –
Left is right and right is left
A drop shouldn’t and a
Block and fall does neither
A prop doesn’t and
A cove has no water
Tripping is OK
A running crew rarely gets anywhere
A purchase line buys you nothing
A trap will not catch anything
A gridiron has nothing to do with football
Strike is work (In fact a lot of work)
And a green room, thank god, usually isn’t
Now that you’re fully versed in Theatrical terms,
Break a leg.
But not really.

[Paul H]

But it's a long time since I've heard the phrase 'strike tent' – in fact I don't think I've ever heard 'strike tent' before, only 'strike camp' – so now I'm wondering about its origins.

It's a sailing term, as are a few other tent terms, more noticeable when you get into bigger tents than get used for camping.  Hardly surprising, as up until all those structures changed from canvas to PVC, they were manufactured by sailmakers.
It's also the origin of industrial striking, from sailors striking the sails and refusing to hoist them again until their terms were met.