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Bent poles for REI Kingdom 4 tent
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A City of Rocks trip in early June had a couple big wind events, not uncommon there. The first, the tent floor was bucking up....with both of us sitting inside. Later, we came back from climbing and the windward side had sorta caved. That netted three bent poles, out of five. I took them to REI, but that's a no go now. No replacements available to buy, no returns, no nothing, but they did give me a printout for someone who does tent repairs. Any one know of any sources for replacements? My guess is just bending them back again will still leave them way less strong and maybe ready to break, next time. Tent was purchased late last summer, so I hate to have to replace it so soon. It is still usable, if kinda wonky.... Thanks! Best, Helen EDIT to add, I'm coming up on trip number 20 to COR, so I know to anchor the suckers down with everything you've got....then put rocks on top of that. |
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OLH ...drop your tent when you leave for the day. That is pull the poles out. Put your cooler on top to keep it from flapping in the wind. |
Allen Sanderson wrote: Good advice, but this one would be a pain in the ass to try that. Tent is clipped and velcroed to the poles, several other fastenings too. And then the fly, then tensioning. You'd be more or less dismantling it, to pull poles. Besides, we'd have to pull out the table and chairs, lol! It's a stand up tent. It just happened to be a full on, direct hit, right to the side of the tent. And a huge wind. City is like that, sometimes, with no warning, and out of the blue. One trip last year, there were tornadoes not too far away, although Idaho tornadoes are dinky things, usually. We saw a bigass funnel cloud, while in Almo, on that earlier trip! Like a lot of stuff in climbing, it's fine most of the time...except when it isn't. ;-) I'll contact the pole fixer upper people above, and whoever REI gave me. Like I said, it works, if kinda wonky. A bit like it's owner. Best, Helen |
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Our tents always have a bent pole or two, which doesn't seem to hinder function. The REI Kingdom 4 and 6 tents are way too tall for consistent outdoor use, although it is nice to be able to sort of stand up. I'm assuming that your REI doesn't have any 4 person tents available at all? Because if they do, and if yours is less than a year old, just return it and get a new one. I don't typically advocate using the REI return, but they will not stand behind any REI branded tent after that first year, no matter the defect, which removes any hesitation on my part. |
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Grab the REI Base Camp 4 as a replacement. Semi-geodesic dome shape, extra cross poles. We recently upgraded to this for those Jtree trips. |
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The Halfdome 4+ is ok too, if you can find one. The new Trail Hut 4 is badly designed, although the poles seemed fairly robust. Go with REI brands if you think it might fail within a year, otherwise you should consider one of the name brands if you want to keep a tent for a while. |
Mark E Dixon wrote: I didn't even look to see what was in the store. The customer service peep said not a word about returning it. I got it for the MP gathering in September last year, but don't remember just when. Maybe a year....maybe not. I'm also not one to do the return thing, but yeah, point taken. Sheesh. Something multiple people could stand up in, have a table, some chairs, a place to retreat to.... that's what I was after last year. I recently bought a Marmot Limestone 4. It's not quite as capacious, but I can walk around in it. I appear to be getting serious. I'm acquiring a fleet of sleeping bags, tents, stoves, loaner bags, tents, etc....lol! Thanks, all! I'll eke this one along, and consider it lesson learned. Hunt elsewhere than REI brand. I will say, I picked up an REI shade structure from my used gear store. It's burly as hell....but it's also clearly old. Ah well. Best, Helen |
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I hunted up my purchase date on this, August 24 per the credit card. I'm going to take the whole, packed, tent in and ask for a refund. Earlier I just asked about getting poles. Four setups seems pretty paltry, for the big bucks. It also says they don't take stuff back that is damaged due to accident or misuse. Three of five poles bending due to wind? I kinda expect better, and that's neither misuse nor an accident. A big burly person crashing into it, sure. Not properly set or guyed out, sure. A tornado, sure. But this wasn't the case. So, recs to replace it, upthread, are: Base Camp 4 Halfdome 4 Any other tents I should look at, maybe as a replacement instead of a refund? They don't have to be on the shelf, my next trip (for a big tent) is a long way out, in September, with the MPers again. I'm just under 60", just looking for a tent with good headspace. They seem to drop under 60" pretty quickly, as they get more aerodynamic. Yeah, I get that's the tradeoff, up, versus being a sail. I also want a front and back door, for ventilation, and just to not be too much of a dark cave. Thanks! Helen |
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If you already have a Marmot Limestone 4, what exactly are you looking for in another tent? |
Mark E Dixon wrote: Two spacious tents, especially when it's hot. We had only the big kingdom four setup last trip, I was in the car. But, that tent had table and chairs inside, on every trip it's been on. The Marmot has head space for me...but not anyone taller. Kingdom 4 is huge headroom. And yes, I expect to have two biggish tents, now and then. It's nice to offer that perk to people I lure to Idaho, lol! Best, Helen |
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We had a Kingdom 6 and I remember it as being fairly well designed and huge. A windy night in the Red Rocks campground broke a pole and ripped the fly. It did survive the night with copious duct tape. |
Mark E Dixon wrote: You wanna let me know when "calm conditions" are a given at City of Rocks??? There's a Big Agnes one, maybe some others. Doesn't need to sleep a crowd, four just seems to be what nets some headspace, without a ridiculously huge footprint. ;-) |
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You'll want a waterproof bathtub floor to keep the vegetable oil from leaking out and ruining the party. |
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When JTree winds snapped and bent my poles for a Kingdom 6, we went the Quest route and purchased replacement Easton sections. They are not a perfect match (as in, I had to sand down the Quest/Easton "male" parts to reduce their girth slightly to fit into the REI poles' female parts for those transitions), so if anyone is planning to do a rebuild, I'd advise consolidating sections so that you're stringing as many REI parts together, and Easton parts together as possible. Also, I never figured out how the hell REI bonded the end pegs into the poles -- all videos show easy to remove screws or friction fit. Nope. REI went with some kind of permanent bond that ranks low on my reparability score. I cut the cord between poles in the alterative and then tied it back together. |
aaronhand wrote: Thanks! If REI won't swap it for something else (Big Agnes is the "vote" at the moment), I'll buy a replacement, and eventually get parts to fix this one. Plenty of use left to it ......even with bent poles. I don't trust it's survival rate, though. Best, Helen @Jay.....hmmmmm. You know I'll eventually crowd source, uh, other activities, right?? Is vegetable oil your go to? Some how, extra virgin sounds.... promising. ;-) |
