Lost a tent pole to a cheap patch kit on the Eagle Rock Loop last month, and it could've cost me the trip
Headed out on the Eagle Rock Loop in Arkansas last month with a pole that had a tiny split near the ferrule, so I grabbed a $6 patch kit from a gas station in Mena and wrapped it tight. Two miles in it slipped off and the pole splintered, leaving me with a floppy half-assembled dome and rain coming in around 4pm. I ended up lashing it to a stick with paracord and sleeping under a droopy lean-to for two nights while my buddy had dry space the size of a closet. The patch kit said it held up to 60 pounds but the adhesive never set right in the cold. Has anyone found a pole splint that actually grips on a slick aluminum ferrule in wet weather?