Busted CF trekking pole…

[Ryan “Rudy” Oury]

bought a used set of Gossamer Gear LT3 poles off Gear Swap a couple weeks ago. They seemed to be in pretty good condition. Took them on a 15 mi trip 3 weeks ago and they did great! Went on a day hike this weekend and one snapped just above the plastic tip ~2 mi in… Is there any chance of repairing this? Only option I can think of would have to be a rod of some sort glued into the main section of the pole, and then inserted into the tip again. Or am I SOL and need to buy another?

[jared h]

a rod that small would have to be pretty burly to not bend/break. would it require hollowing out the pieces? even more trouble…

you might try a tent pole repair sleeve/splint. not sure it would work, but worth a shot.

[James Marco]

I would recommend getting some marine epoxy (waterproof) and using an internal tube of graphite fiber.

Note that often the breaks are not clean so you have to do a bit of grinding with a dremel tool to clean this up, often shortening the pole. So, plan on adding the length back with an internal sleeve. Make sure you get the same thickness walls, minimum.
https://www.rockwestcomposites.com/round-tubing/round-carbon-fiber-tubing/fabric-weave-carbon-tubing/1503-group
https://www.clearwatercomposites.com/products/carbon-fiber-tubes/round/?filter_product-type=standard-modulus
You can also check amazon, sometimes they have a good selection.

[Ryan Smith]

One other option would be to take off the trek pole grip, insert a golf shaft extender with some epoxy, put grip back on, epoxy a new tip to the other end.

[Joe S]

In addition to running an internal sleeve/rod you could always get some carbon fiber fabric and resin and wrap that around the outside of the break.  There is a lot of information about repairing carbon fiber bike frames this way that can be found with a quick google.  I don’t know if it would end up costing more than buying a new pole if you don’t already have some cf and resin.

[James Marco]

Yeah, if the repair were further from the tip, a midshaft repair for example, I might say to add a sleeve around the outside. But, right at the hiking tip with the loss of perhaps a 1/2″ of shaft material due to splintering/delaminating, chances are an outside loose wrap will add nothing to overall strength, just add weight.

A loose layup of carbon cloth (it doesn’t really like to flex around very well) is normally done with vinyl “electrical” tape pulled tightly and wrapped BACKWARDS or with heat shrink material wrapped around a shaft (similar to the older Orvis fly rods) then heated/baked. Anyway, this works well for new stuff, it does not work too well for repairs due to the expense.

A few sleeves of about 6″ will be MUCH easier to work with and add only minimal weight.

Note that a standard 5 minute epoxy can be used for all the pieces and a paired tube is only about $4 at Lowes. Tubing is another story. Getting the insert, is minimal and really doesn’t hurt the strength much. I am thinking the tip must’ve caught on something applying a relatively extreme twist to the tip. I usually just run the shaft down and finish it with a 2″ wooden plug and a 1/8″ or 3/16″ machine screw poking out the end about an inch or so. The square corner is better in mud/sand, and it doesn’t matter on rock, only the tip bites. It is NOT standard, though so it is not good as a ski or snowshoe pole.

[Ryan “Rudy” Oury]

thanks for the suggestions everyone. Great ideas! I’m gonna have to do a little research to figure out cost of the various potential repair parts. I’ve got a feeling its going to end up being more cost/time/trouble than it’ll be worth, for a repair that may not be great. We’ll see. I’ll update if I end up doing it.

[Ryan “Rudy” Oury]

Finally got a chance to try a repair so here’s an update. I was leery of a carbon fiber repair partially cuz I haven’t worked w/ CF, but mostly cuz I’d have to buy some. I didn’t think it very likely I’d be able to get the exact right dimensions or taper on the first go and my costs would add up quick. Plus I’d have to buy a new tip, or attempt to drill out the CF from the old, neither being appealing options. Basically I didn’t want this repair to cost more than ~$10, and less was going to be best.

fortunately, I had a couple old pairs of aluminum ski poles lying around. Looking st those, I realized they had a nice taper that would likely match up fairly well w/ the outside of my pole. Cut up one and it test fit pretty nicely. The taper was a little more aggressive so I sanded the rod tip slightly to match.

i cut the aluminum to an appropriate length bead on how far it would slip on the rod and how much breakoff I needed to makeup. Ended up needing ~6” total. That piece weighed 22g vs the broken off section that was only 13g.

Time to hit the drill press. Drilled out the new tip piece and got it down to 13g as well. Pulled out a tube of basic epoxy, lubed up the rod and put everything together. In the end, the good rod is 78g and my repaired one is just slightly heavier at 82g. I’m very pleased w/ the repair at the moment, especiallly the badass look! (I’m kinda hoping the other one breaks so I have to repair it too!) Now I just need to use it and see how long the repair lasts, to know how happy I really am w/ it!

** broken off tip weighed 13g

**drilled out aluminum repair tip to same weight

**had to taper rod slightly to match taper of repair piece

**finished repair

[Franco Darioli]

If I understand it correctly, the last photo shows the finished pole (?)

so the repair sleeve is the new tip (?)

If so I expect it will brake off in no time at all.

(I could be wrong…)

[Ryan “Rudy” Oury]

Correct. The last pic is the finished product. The “repair” functions as the tip as well. I’m def more optimistic :) the original tip functioned in the same way. The rod was inserted into it and ended close to the bottom of the tip. My repair actually has MORE rod inserted into the tip than the original did… the tip just extends further past the end of the rod. We’ll see!

[James Marco]

Yeah, that looks like it will work. I would worry on rock face. There the whole tip will bite, release and bite, sorta. As it rolls from one side it will go flat, reducing the grip all the way around, the main reason they have a pointed tip. This is the reason I insert a plug with a 1/8-3/32″ stove bolt screwed through it extending down about a 1/2-1″. It acts like a regular carbide tip, cept it is steel and wears quicker. I am afraid the aluminum will wear relatively fast, also. Anyway, on wood it will also slip a bit. Again, without some point to dig in, there will always be a chance of slippage.

It should work for now. Yeah carbon stuff can be a bit difficult because of cost and time. I have several old broken fishing rods that often supply ne with odd sized tubing. No, the pole itself doesn’t need to be tapered or only slightly. I think I have made about a dozen or so and given them away to people to use. The whole pole costs less than $15 even at todays prices, and only weigh about 4oz/44″. (A 10′ Panfish pole works pretty well.)

I have had trouble with a lot of different tips. They all taper pretty wide at the top. I was always catching them on something, especially between rocks where the pivot pressure can shear the tip right off. After about 10 years and 4-5 pair, I just started making my own. They actually work a LOT better, but, they are not collapsible.
They don’t have handles, but have rubber wrist strap mounts, and tip mounts, soo, they are even shock resistant.

Anyway, yours seem like they will work.

[Dale Wambaugh]

Can you just buy a pole section from Gossamer Gear? If you can give me some diameters and length I may have some cross country ski pole shafts that might work.

[Ryan “Rudy” Oury]

thanks for the offer Dale, but this is an LT3 pole, their single piece fixed length pole… not the LT4 or LT5 that are sectional. I like the lightness of this pole since there’s no overlap from connections, but have to admit, this is an area where the sectionals should shine. They’re much easier/less costly to repair broken tips.

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