We’re heading out to our first major festival of the season in a few hours and are scrambling to make last-minute arrangements. One of those things is addressing a weakness in our totem.
Totem?
Totem.
It’s a 12-foot tall decorated bamboo fishing pole, particularly useful for keeping track of our cart and so the little Devilling can easily find us if something goes wrong. Here’s a pic from a year or so ago. It’s got a little more on it now, but the main weight comes from the F’Lannegants (the magic snake-worms on top).
The pole has a lot of flex, but the joints aren’t really designed for that kind of stress. They’re simple, thin metal ‘caps’ of sorts around the smaller end and a thin metal cup-like thing it fits into. When there is a lot of wind or it brushes a tree or something, the joints get very stressed. Once in a while they’ll snap.
My solution so far has been to get a spring that’s reasonably close in diameter to the pole and about ten inches or so long. I thread the pole through it and use Gorilla Tape to secure the spring. That way, as the pole flexes it’s also pushing against the spring, which takes a small burden off the joint.
It’s an imperfect solution at best, and I just realized that maybe someone out there will have a better idea—even if we don’t get to implement it before we head out today, there are several other fests this season (and the next … )
Would be good, but we need it to be collapsible–sometimes we need to wheel through makeshift doors and whatnot. Right now there’s a short PVC pipe affixed to the wagon that the pole slides into (sometimes it’s easy enought to carry it through horizontally), but there are still times when we need it to come apart (not the least of which is packing the van).
Is the devilling very attached to the things at the top? I think the easiest solution would be to reduce the top load by using balloons, blow-up toys, streamers and other things that don’t have any significant weight to them.
Also, maybe you could sister a few collapsible tent poles to it. A dozen or so zip ties could do the trick, and would be easy to break down at the end of the day.
Your solution is IMHO pretty good. It is what I would do. This is a common answer for whip antennas (possibly where you got the idea.) A made for purpose antenna base might make for a less makeshift answer.
For instance, an antenna and base could be used, and the antenna cut down to a length that slides into the first rod section. That would yield a stronger and less makeshift joint (no tape), but maybe not worth the effort and cost. Avoiding a conductive pole is a really good thing, so don’t be tempted to use a sectioned antenna to replace the pole. A fibreglass pole would be OK.
A simple solution for mounting the spring might be to look for some conduit brackets that will fit and use them to hard mount the spring.
The F’Lannegants are pretty integral to the whole thing. They’re not just totems; they’re family. And anyway, you don’t want to go crossing a time-traveling hypersnake, nope!
Marrying a shorter tent pole sounds great. I’d thought of switching to a tent pole, but wasn’t too happy moving away from the bamboo. Plus, a 12’ pole is either going to be too stiff and it won’t bend or it’ll be floppy as all heck. But a three or four foot pole? That might be perfect!
Ah, in that case, sections, but with longer joining pieces - a section of cane slotted an inch into a metal joining ferrule/tube will probably break more easily than one that is inserted 6 inches into a close-fitting joint tube.
Would a fibre glass tent pole (from a dome type tent) work?
We go through two or three a season–I like the idea of making something a bit more permanent (even if we get ourselves down to just one per season). Where would I find cane or bamboo that I can work with?
We thought about the tent pole, but passed because switching from a wood base to fibreglass makes my inner hippie a notch sadder. Not a big deal, but the change in materials takes a little bit away. Not that we’re all organically crunchy or anything (it’s a metal cart with synthetic wheels, etc.), but all-fibreglass is just slightly off.
Or maybe that’s sour grapes. When we were thinking about it, the only 12’ poles I could find were either way too thick/stiff or were far too flexible.
Could you multiply up the fibreglass tent poles? One is far too thin for the job, but three or four, whipped together, might be tough enough and flexible enough while remaining light and dismantlable.
I bet you can find plenty for free after the show.
They are usually fiberglass and collapse to about 3-4’ or so. Link goes to Cabela’s web site, but any local fishing of sporting goods store may have them in stock. The top sections drop down inside the lower section, so nothing to lose and no joints to break.
Look up CB quick-release fold-down (or fold-over) mounts. They cost about 10 bucks, and when you want to drop the pole to get through gates, bridges,e tc, just pull up on the knurled collar and the thing swings down.
These are meant for CB whips up to 5 feet long, but that’s for mounting to a vehicle and surviving winds at 65 MPH. Your pole at walking speed should be fine as long as the hypersnakes aren’t too heavy. I suspect the strength of the pole will be the limiting factor, rather than the hinged mount.
Sections of foot-long-ish PVC pipe that you could use as sleeves for the ferrule joints? Or just redesign the pole using all PVC pipe and connectors. Or, for a really heavy duty contraption steel pipe and threaded connectors.