Ruta Locura custom carbon fiber tent poles?

[Billy Ray]

Someone on BPL posted some time back about them getting Ruta Locura to make some custom carbon fiber poles to replace the stock aluminum ones for their Big Agnes tent.
I'm wonder how that worked out.
Like, what was the cost? Weight savings? How have they held up?

thanks,

Billy

[Adam Kilpatrick]

If you check out the poles section of Quest Outfitters, you can buy everything you need to make your own poles up for your tent. Just take out your current poles, work out what sections you need, etc, and go from there.

If you compare the .344 nanolite aluminium eastons to the .355 carbon poles, you are saving around 18 grams over a ten section length pole. Not huge, though I suspect that the carbon pole is a lot stronger, and/or may fatigue less over the long run.

[Andrew U]

Are you looking for custom fit poles for a specific tent or just some standard straight poles in a specific length?

[Billy Ray]

Big Agnes Fly Creek UL2.
It has a 3-way joint fitting at the top so I imagine any carbon fiber replacement poles would have to work with that fitting. Also, the 3 bottom points have a fitting at the end that kinda snaps into a grommet.

but, really, I'm not looking to do this; rather I'm trying to find out how it went for the person that reported getting Ruta Lorcura replacement poles.

Billy

[JP]

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[Erik Hagen]

Billy, I had this done for my Fly Creek Platinum UL2. The CF poles saved ~ 3.75 oz. My aluminum poles were 9 3/8 oz and the CF poles that Ruta Locura made are 5 5/8 oz on my scale. I've only used them a few times with no problems thus far.

Erik

[Billy Ray]

Erik,
How did Ruta join the CF poles at the top?
Did they use the stock aluminum 3-way fitting?
If so, did they reinforce the CF tubes at that joint?
Seems like putting metal inside CF tubes at a stress point could be a weak spot.
And how did they do the ends. Seems like the stock aluminum poles had fittings on the ends designed to kinda snap into the grommets on the tent.

thanks for the info,

Billy

[Erik Hagen]

Here's a few photo's so you can see the difference between the CF Poles and the Stock Poles. The replacement hub was not re-used and is made out of plastic. You can see it is much larger than the aluminum version. For the little plastic clip, Josh placed a small section of outer tube over the poles. This holds the plastic clip in place when the poles are snapped together. The ends are basically identical using aluminum grommet tips. My only minor complaint is the shock cord could be a little tighter but figure i could tension that if needed.

[Billy Ray]

Eric… thanks for the pics…. worth a thousand words, as they say.
What did they charge you for this CF pole set?

thanks,

Billy

[Erik Hagen]

Billy, they were $125 plus $6 for shipping.

[Billy Ray]

Erik,
Are the custom Ruta Locur carbon fiber poles solid or hollow?

thanks,

Billy

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