paddle-to-tent pole mod

I bought a Lightheart Gear SoLong 6 tent last year, which requires the use of trekking poles as tent poles. As I’m ambivalent about trekking poles, I used 3/8" wooden dowels, corks, wood glue and duct tape to make a pair of extenders that allow me to use the two halves of my collapsible paddle as poles. (The poles have to be about 130-135mm and the paddle halves are closer to 110 each.) I haven’t tried them in the field yet but they work great in the tent. Total weight is 1.4 oz.

Such mods like this are great. Well done.

A paddle pole also makes a good “walking pole” if you put rubber chair stoppers on the ends. We just spent 10 days in a remote NZ river valley using the central 2 pieces of a 4 piece paddle as a pole, and the rubber stoppers were great.

AA