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could you get a long  piece of wire and tie the elastic to the end and thread it thorugh?

sorry - all I can suggest  Im sure somebody will be along soon with better advice

xoopsx

You can buy a rethreading kit from most camping shops, complete with the shock cord and a wire for threading it through the poles.

get a pack of pole elastic, £5 from millets. remove the old elastic, pull it out from the end of the pole witha tweezers if neccesary and keep as a guide to measure the new elastic and mark with a felt pen.

the pack of elastic usually comes with a wire threader, but I found this fiddly to attach the elastic to and found an easier way was to not bother with it and

singe the end of the elastic with a flame.

 thread it through the poles, hold the poles upright and the elastic will slip down through them easily.  and when they are all threaded tie a knot in the end . pull the elastic until you come to your mark and tie another knot here . simple as threading beads . check that the metal ferrules are all going in the right direction, before you tie the last knot.

Another one for my favourites folder, Debbie

Clare

Yes, if the elastic isn't snapped you can re use it, but as you'll have to be stretching it to thread the poles on, it's just a bit more fiddly. the elastic must be shorter than the length of all the poles ,once threaded,  to give the tension.

But its always a good idea  have a spare elastic and a spare pole or two with you anyway in case you have to do a repair on site. If a pole or elastic snaps as you are putting the tent up, you won't want to be running around looking for a camping shop, before you can start will you?

A roll of ductape is a good spare to have too, you can wrap it around a pole that has split, if it hasn't snapped completely,  as an emergency repair

Use the old shock cord to tie your poles together when they are folded, it will not perish and snap the way elastic bands do.

Quote: Originally posted by fluteannie on 05/7/2008

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The pressure of the side poles holds the pieces of the roof pole together, and the pieces slot into each other by a good three inches, so there's not much chance they'll come apart in use.

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The elastic is not there to hold the poles together when erected, but to keep the assemblies together for ease of pitching.

The wire that comes with a re-threading kit can be easily fed into the pole by using pliers to push it in inch by inch, and then to grab it and pull out the other end once it emerges.

I would also point out to fluteannie that if unthreaded poles come part in the sleeve when feeding them through it is an absolute b*gger to reconnect them as the elastic helps you to guide the parted ends together.