Author Topic: Tarp camping... wot pole?  (Read 20791 times)

andygates

  • Peroxide Viking
Tarp camping... wot pole?
« on: 30 December, 2008, 08:11:15 am »
Much as I love the idea of using a bike as a tent-pole, it's a bit low and it literally ties up your bike.  Camping in the woods it's a no-brainer, just throw a line around a tree and you're good to go.  What about more open ground?  Army surplus bivi pole?  Fancy-pants ultralight telescopickal pole?  Cheapo walking pole repurposed?  What do folks recommend (and doesn't get in the way on the bike)?
It takes blood and guts to be this cool but I'm still just a cliché.
OpenStreetMap UK & IRL Streetmap & Topo: ravenfamily.org/andyg/maps updates weekly.

Re: Tarp camping... wot pole?
« Reply #1 on: 30 December, 2008, 09:08:18 am »
A Hilleberg Akto tent? ;)
None of the disadvantages of a tarp with light weigh and small pack size.
Never knowingly under caffeinated

Re: Tarp camping... wot pole?
« Reply #2 on: 30 December, 2008, 09:12:30 am »
I've got two telescopic webtex bivi poles. Now, I haven't used them yet so my advice is probably a bit useless, but what I really wanted to say, from the bottom of my heart, with all honesty  ;D...

is that even one of those webtex poles would be a bit cumbersome to carry on the bike. They're longer than you expect, even when fully folded, they're heavier than you might expect and they're slippery, so wouldn't be the easiest thing to tie up on the rear of a saddle bag.

( I assume one of the nice things about tarp camping is that you can camp ultralight, so wouldn't think you'd have a full set of pannier bags? )
"Many, also, are the hills that lie between, and we must ascend, by a glorious stairway, from strength to strength."
- Petrarch, 'The Ascent of Mount Ventoux', 1336

andygates

  • Peroxide Viking
Re: Tarp camping... wot pole?
« Reply #3 on: 30 December, 2008, 09:17:17 am »
Long things like that can lash nicely to a toptube (it works for quarterstaffs).  That's a 2-piece pole, isn't it?  I wonder if there's a 3-piece?
It takes blood and guts to be this cool but I'm still just a cliché.
OpenStreetMap UK & IRL Streetmap & Topo: ravenfamily.org/andyg/maps updates weekly.

Re: Tarp camping... wot pole?
« Reply #4 on: 30 December, 2008, 09:25:05 am »
Have you thought of making your own?
They won't telescope but you can make them into whatever length sections suits you. We used bamboo and brass tube for the ferrules back in the '60's. Both are sold by B&Q.
Never knowingly under caffeinated

andygates

  • Peroxide Viking
Re: Tarp camping... wot pole?
« Reply #5 on: 30 December, 2008, 09:53:43 am »
Many sticks I have.  This, though, is an exercise in ultraweeny.  If I wanted bulk, I'd take my tent!   :)

The standard basha pole is:

Closed Size: 54cm.
Extended Size: 85cm.
Weight: 240g

I mean, really.   ::-)
It takes blood and guts to be this cool but I'm still just a cliché.
OpenStreetMap UK & IRL Streetmap & Topo: ravenfamily.org/andyg/maps updates weekly.

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Tarp camping... wot pole?
« Reply #6 on: 30 December, 2008, 11:17:01 am »
Pah!  Can't you fashion one from a handy sapling, or the femur of a passing bear, or summat?

Wimp! ;D
Getting there...

alan

Re: Tarp camping... wot pole?
« Reply #7 on: 30 December, 2008, 12:10:32 pm »
so,you need wood.

RichForrest

  • T'is I, Silverback.
    • Ramblings of a silverback cyclist
Re: Tarp camping... wot pole?
« Reply #8 on: 30 December, 2008, 12:14:55 pm »
so,you need wood.
I know camping can be exciting but you may need viagra to keep the tarp up all night :o

Re: Tarp camping... wot pole?
« Reply #9 on: 30 December, 2008, 06:07:01 pm »
15 x 30cm x 8.5mm alloy pole sections, £15 (Decathlon) 342g, incl. elastic etc
5 or 6 sections should do it, at about 20g each.

I've a similar bundle of 20 - 25 sections that I picked in a sale heap in Oswald Bailey's for £4
Fibreglass pole sections are common (eg Blacks)



redshift

  • High Priestess of wires
    • redshift home
Re: Tarp camping... wot pole?
« Reply #10 on: 30 December, 2008, 08:43:43 pm »
Surely this calls for carbon fibre kite tube?  get two adjacent sizes, as they often work so that 'size a' exterior diameter fits nicely into 'size b.'  Cut short (100mm-ish) stubs of the larger size, and epoxy them to half depth onto one end of each narrower tube.  Run an elastic through, and you got yourself a tent pole as long as you want.  Or would even that be too heavy for you?   ;D
L
:)
Windcheetah No. 176
The all-round entertainer gets quite arsey,
They won't translate his lame shit into Farsi
Somehow to let it go would be more classy…

Re: Tarp camping... wot pole?
« Reply #11 on: 30 December, 2008, 08:58:02 pm »
Kathmandu Trekking may be able to help. I've been using their basha tent for ten years. Love it - plenty of room for the bike underneath

andygates

  • Peroxide Viking
Re: Tarp camping... wot pole?
« Reply #12 on: 30 December, 2008, 09:40:44 pm »
I'm not sure that one bit of tent-pole would have the rigidity ... but two in an X, with the crossing high and the ridge-line over that -- that would work.

So would a bit of 8mm kite spine and some alu sleeves.  :demon: Reckon I can get it under 100g?
It takes blood and guts to be this cool but I'm still just a cliché.
OpenStreetMap UK & IRL Streetmap & Topo: ravenfamily.org/andyg/maps updates weekly.

fuzzy

Re: Tarp camping... wot pole?
« Reply #13 on: 31 December, 2008, 12:44:05 pm »
How about 2 telescopic rod rests from the fishing tackle shop guyed with paracord and a pole of your choice to sit atop the rod rests to form the ridge?

Re: Tarp camping... wot pole?
« Reply #14 on: 31 December, 2008, 12:55:55 pm »
You started off with the premise that the bike is a bit too low to use as the pole. What about the bike plus something to give it a bit more height?
[Quote/]Adrian, you're living proof that bandwidth is far too cheap.[/Quote]

andygates

  • Peroxide Viking
Re: Tarp camping... wot pole?
« Reply #15 on: 31 December, 2008, 12:58:16 pm »
Rod rests are never 90cm?

Adrian, 'cos it still ties up the bike.  That's what Charlotte did at the zombie camp (with a jolly hockey stick).
It takes blood and guts to be this cool but I'm still just a cliché.
OpenStreetMap UK & IRL Streetmap & Topo: ravenfamily.org/andyg/maps updates weekly.

fuzzy

Re: Tarp camping... wot pole?
« Reply #16 on: 31 December, 2008, 01:31:53 pm »
Rod rests are never 90cm?

Adrian, 'cos it still ties up the bike.  That's what Charlotte did at the zombie camp (with a jolly hockey stick).

I think you can get some quite long ones these days.

andygates

  • Peroxide Viking
Re: Tarp camping... wot pole?
« Reply #17 on: 31 December, 2008, 01:53:38 pm »
...as the actress said to the bishop.
It takes blood and guts to be this cool but I'm still just a cliché.
OpenStreetMap UK & IRL Streetmap & Topo: ravenfamily.org/andyg/maps updates weekly.

Re: Tarp camping... wot pole?
« Reply #18 on: 31 December, 2008, 02:11:55 pm »
I'm not sure that one bit of tent-pole would have the rigidity ... but two in an X, with the crossing high and the ridge-line over that -- that would work.

Or brace a single pole using Accessory cord and a triangular spreader.
Life is too important to be taken seriously.

andygates

  • Peroxide Viking
Re: Tarp camping... wot pole?
« Reply #19 on: 31 December, 2008, 02:15:36 pm »


That's witchcraft!
It takes blood and guts to be this cool but I'm still just a cliché.
OpenStreetMap UK & IRL Streetmap & Topo: ravenfamily.org/andyg/maps updates weekly.

Re: Tarp camping... wot pole?
« Reply #20 on: 31 December, 2008, 02:18:10 pm »
It certainly looks as though it ought to end in tears
[Quote/]Adrian, you're living proof that bandwidth is far too cheap.[/Quote]

Re: Tarp camping... wot pole?
« Reply #21 on: 31 December, 2008, 02:24:51 pm »
That's witchcraft!

Nah!  ;D

The pole will take the compressive stress provided it stays straight, but being of a small diameter is likely to fail by buckling. The cordage triangulates the structure, stabilising it and keeping it straight.  :thumbsup:
Life is too important to be taken seriously.

andygates

  • Peroxide Viking
Re: Tarp camping... wot pole?
« Reply #22 on: 31 December, 2008, 02:25:45 pm »
Exectly!  Science! Physics! Witchcraft!
It takes blood and guts to be this cool but I'm still just a cliché.
OpenStreetMap UK & IRL Streetmap & Topo: ravenfamily.org/andyg/maps updates weekly.

Zoidburg

Re: Tarp camping... wot pole?
« Reply #23 on: 31 December, 2008, 02:55:24 pm »
I used to swear by the good old fashioned stick scavanged from the woods or the "Spyderco method"

Take a length of paracord, tie a noose at one end and pull it tight around the pocket clip.

Throw the spyderco over a branch in the tree canopy and then tie the paracord on to the poncho loops that run down the middle of the pegged out poncho

In the event of having to stash the poncho and run away in the middle of the night the spyderco is then used to go through the paracord in one go as its a ruddy sharp thing.

andygates

  • Peroxide Viking
Re: Tarp camping... wot pole?
« Reply #24 on: 31 December, 2008, 03:03:54 pm »
VSS (vertical support systems, go acronyms!) in the woods is easy.   ;D
It takes blood and guts to be this cool but I'm still just a cliché.
OpenStreetMap UK & IRL Streetmap & Topo: ravenfamily.org/andyg/maps updates weekly.