Make a Short Tarp Pole (65cm / 52g)

It may come as no surprise that Tarp Poles that are light and that work are quite hard to find.

Many hikers will as a matter of course be using one or two hiking poles. I very rarely use hiking poles and never carry more than one. This means that if I use a tarp I have to bring some poles (or find some suitable trees).

I've yet to find a supplier that can provide stiff and light aluminium or carbon fibre poles to me as an individual who just wants to use. Most modern tent poles are designed to flex into curves and this is exactly what I do not want for a tarp pole.

Given these issues and the fact that I have some basic metalworking tools at my disposal I decided to produce a set of poles out of stock tubing that I had lying around and that was originally purchased from B&Q.

These poles are used all the time with my Ultralight Tent.

Tarp Pole Design

This Tarp pole has been designed to be both light and strong and is designed to be used for Stealth Camping and hence is painted black.

I've created the pole in two sections so that I can have either a 45cm pole or a 65cm pole. I generally find that having a pole taller than the tarp is helpful for overall stability.

The 45cm height has been chosen because this is the tallest pole that will fit in my ultralight pack

In order to do this project you will need some basic metalworking skills and access to some basic metalworking equipment - either a drill press or a metalworking lathe. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS WITH A DOMESTIC DRILL.

Tools Required

• Drill Press
• Metric drills - 8.5mm, 6.5mm, 4.5mm
• Machine Vice with vertical V-groove (for use with drill press) + Fixing bolts
• tube-cutter or hacksaw
• Flat file
• Hammer :-)

Materials

• 25cm of Aluminium 10mm tubing (wall thickness is about 1mm)
• 25cm of Aluminium 8mm tubing (wall thickness is about 1mm)
• 24cm of Aluminium 6mm tubing (wall thickness is about 1mm)
• 3cm of 4mm Aluminium round stock (i.e solid)
• Araldite (or another epoxy glue or hot melt glue. NOT Superglue)

Instructions

See Metal-Working tips

1. Clamp the 10mm tubing into the machine vice, centre the tubing on the drill and secure the machine vice to the drill press table
2. Set up the drill press with an 8.5mm drill and a drill out one end of the tubing to a depth of 5cm. Use lubrication (e.g. 3in1) on the inside of the tube and the drill. Do a little at a time and relubricate from time to time. [Wear protective glasses]
3. Clamp the 8mm tubing into the machine vice, centre the tubing on the drill and secure.
4. Set up the drill press with an 6.5mm drill and a drill out one end of the tubing to a depth of 5cm. Use lubrication. [Wear protective glasses]
5. Clamp the 6mm tubing into the machine vice and centre.
6. Drill one end of the tubing to a depth of 1.5cm using a 4.5mm drill.
7. Set up the drill press with a 6mm drill and a drill depth of 5cm. Widen this to 6.2mm (approx). [If you cannot do this then use a 6.5mm drill instead and drill once]. Use lubrication (e.g. 3in1). Lubricate the drill and drill out the centre of the tubing. Do a little at a time and relubricate from time to time. [Wear protective glasses]
8. You should now have an 8mm tube that nests into the 10mm tube and a 6mm tube that nests into the 8mm tube.
9. Coat one end of the 4mm round stock with Araldite and tap into place in the 6mm tubing
10. File any rough edges on the tubing.
11. If desired fit an 8mm plug into the end of the 10mm tubing.
12. Paint if desired - use a metal primer.

Note: This pole is strong enough for one end of a tarp. It is not designed to be a primary pole. The pole is designed to wobble and flex a little in a strong wind when used as shown:

Here you can see that the pole is secured to a guyline through a single inline loop. In a cross-wind the pole is free to wobble a little as the canvas takes the wind. The Tarp Pole is under a good amount of compression as a consequence of how it has been secured to the guyline but is subject to almost no other forces.