Hey BPL crew, I just received a beautiful duo-mid from MLD, I'm experimenting with the two pole set up for couples using the 12 inch pole extenders included with the DUO. I have a pair of ti goat poles and the extenders only fit about two inches up the tip so when I cinch the tarp down they are angling out from the pole causing instability. Any thoughts tips would be appreciated as I'm hopping to go play this weekend.

thanks in advance for your help.

Bill

Hi Bill,

If you've got the Ti goat poles, then you can 'uncap' one, and put the bottom of the other into the top of the uncapped pole, negating the need for the extender on at least one pole. This creates a fairly solid single extended pole.

Not sure about the other pole, but perhaps having one pole without the instability would help.

Take care,

Doug

Thanks Doug for the quick response, but that creates another challenge because the Duo is designed to go grip into a reinforced top thre is no harness for a pole tip?

Glad we love challenges ;0)

Bill

Would a rubber tip on the pole end solve that? If not, how about an empty ibuprofen bottle? That would still weigh less than one of the extenders, I would think.

Bill,
I have used AGPs and extenders that were large enough to go to the shoulder, but taper in the tip is still the issue. The extender and pole are still torqued.

I will add that while scary looking I did ok in 40+ gusts. So go play.

The only idea I came up with was to put a temporary plug in the extender at "tip length + 0.5", fill the extender with "just enough" epoxy, and then insert the pole tip (slathered with some sort of magic release agent), to create a solid and square socket.

Some day I'll try it.

An empty IB bottle would work great Bingo.

Mucho thanks.

Bill

"and then insert the pole tip (slathered with some sort of magic release agent)"

or wrapped in a bit of Glad plastic wrap...

Me think this is still the way to go:
http://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en-us/shop/mountain/shelters/pole-link-converter
Franco

If you have 2 sets of poles, these might be worth a try. I've a set on order
http://www.backpackinglight.co.uk/product443.asp

We took a group of scouts to Philmont Scout Ranch. They require the use of a separate rain shelter, i.e. 10 x 12 tarp. We extended our poles by lashing 2 sets of poles together with bicycle inner tubes that we cut lengthwise. I think about 30" would do. You might have the tube already sitting around your garage.

The best solution, in my ALWAYS humble opinion, is GG Lighttrek 4 adjustable poles with the GG pole extender. The extender is the same carbon fiber as the poles (I think, Grant would know better!), just shy of 17". You take the lower portion of the trekking pole out, fit the extender into the upper section via the 2" sleeve, and then put the lower portion in the bottom of the extender and adjust to fit. It creates one solid pole, no swaying or wavering, that's tall enough to use as the center pole for a SuperMid. Weighs 20 grams on my scale. Below is a pic I took with the extender in a trekking pole setting up a SpeedMid well off the ground! As you can see from the pic, it's like one, solid, long pole. I love mine! I didn't really need it with the SpeedMid, but set it up to test it out.