I have fiddled with this before but without a really satisfactory result which meets every need. It is easy enough if you have adjustable poles or the type which one section from another pole can be added to the first one, but the method below works whatever type of poles you have.
I have played around with interesting uses for rubber bands and inner tubes before so I have plenty of spare material lying around.
Here I have cut two approx 12″ x 3/4″ strips from a heavy duty car inner tube which was much more suitable for making the lightweight shoes really. The strips work out about 15 grams each. If I locate a motorcycle inner tube or even a pushbike one I can probably get closer to half this – which I will.
You only need to wrap the inner tube around itself stretching it as you go, then jam the end somehow eg as here between the two poles. You could just about stand on the resulting tent pole.The two sections have no inclination to slide against each other – unlike practically every other method I have tried – dozens!
This will be used in an upcoming (long) trip Della and I are about to take in the (still incomplete) Deer Hunter’s Tent (background). It has been standing up to some very difficult weather where you see it for about a week now.
I will be making a completely new one out of .93 oz/yd2 material (which I have bought) as soon as I have finished this one. I will save over 100 grams and have a tent (including floor) which weighs around 300 grams (not including tent pegs), and uses two hiking poles (joined together thus) to set it up (or a bush pole etc).
I will also use the Sprung Tent Pole Extension as it really makes the tent stand up well. As we will be both carrying hiking poles I will probably add a second pole to the back wall of the tent to stand it off us (even more than the tent anchors do). We will be super dry.
See Also:
How did you come up with the idea of using heavy-duty car inner tubes to convert hiking poles into tent poles, and what benefits do you expect to achieve with this DIY solution, especially in the context of your upcoming trip with the Deer Hunter’s Tent?
Well, just much as I explained in the article really. Mostly here in Oz I would just take my ultralight saw (https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/11/13/ultralight-tent-poles/) as I usually use bush pole but if they are not available the rubber band solution is a good one. Cheers, Steve.