Using a pole extender or dpte with black diamond z poles

Ace Hardware, “Hobby Tubing”, the ID comes in 1/16″ increments.

Take your poles in and get the size that works.

Best bet there is to skip the DPTE and use some carbon fiber pole jacks and pitch with the handles at the peak.

The diameter of the Distance Z pole tips is 10.9mm, so a pair of carbon fiber tubes with an inside diameter of 11mm (13mm OD x 11mm ID) should work very well for the pole jacks.

Thanks so much Greg and Bob I appreciate the feedback.

I hope that with the right fit there will be enough of a bite on the trekking pole to be secure. Like I said there isn’t  more than an inch before the tube would hit the basket.

Nice set up Bob and how much does your Tyvek floor weigh.Do you use the z poles?

Kona k,

I get a very tight fit with my BD Alpine Carbon Corks and either the Zpacks or the Ruta Locura Carbon Fiber pole jacks.  I know Black Diamond sells various replacement tips as well.  I don’t know if the tip of the Z Poles is the same as that of the Alpine Carbon Corks, but if not you could ask them about their replacement tips.

Bob,

How wide is your tyvek bathtub ground sheet?  It looks pretty nice.

Kona and Rob

In the photo above the poles being used are the REI (Komperdell) powerlock poles with the CF pole jacks from Zpacks (which I am pretty sure come from Ruta). I had to shave down the pole tips a bit with a Dremel sanding drum, but the resulting fit was spectacular. Those are my “winter” trekking poles and the baskets are removed easily when desired. I got these pole jacks before I started making my own trekking poles and discovering the MYOG possibilities of CF tube.

I don’t remember the precise size of the Tyvek, but it’s very close to 40″ x 80″ and weighs about 7.5 oz. This is the housewrap stuff, not the 1443 kite stuff. The bath tub sides are about 5″ (perhaps overkill?) so the working size will be about 50″ x 90″.

Kona, yes the problem with the BD Distance Z tips is the small amount of overlap, meaning that the fit between the tips and the pole jacks needs to be very precise.

There is a way to do this and I have done it. I don’t know how ‘into’ MYOG you are but it is fairly straightforward. The idea is to make a custom ‘pocket’ for the tip. For this you will need some JB Kwik, a small piece of foam and some Vaseline. The process is to put a thin coat of Vaseline on the pole tip as a release agent, insert the small piece of foam into the pole jack to act as a glue dam, mix up some JB Quick and pour it into the end of the pole jack and then insert the Vaseline-coated pole tip, mopping up the overflow JB Quick with a paper towel. Make sure everything is straight and then let the JB Quick cure. Pull the pole tip out and—voila!—you have a custom fit.

Rob,

I called up black diamond and found out you can switch out tips. Ruta Locura sells there poles with the option of buying flex tech tip or z pole tip.

Bob,

I like your thinking on how to MYOG .JB Kwik is great stuff. A great idea to take a dremel and do a little customizing.

Thanks for the feedback it is appreciated.

So I went into the garage and looked at the girlfriends poles, my old ones,  and sure enough they have the flex tips. With a couple pairs of channel locks and a little elbow grease I changed tips out. Like you guys said the fit on a ruta locura pole jack is nice and tight as well as the MLD. I will take some measurements on the duomid and order a couple longer carbon pole jacks.

Cheers Kona

Good luck Kona!  Let us know how it ends up…Also, thanks Bob for the info on your tyvek bathtub floor!