Weight limit of bridge hammock made with Hexon 2.4?

[Just Bill]

That tip through the handle looks great, do you have any other pictures of how you made it?

I know Grizz has popped a circle out of cork handles with a dowel but I think the new Cascade poles are rubber at the tip.

Yar... pictures woulda been handy, lol.

This is a bit of a tricky job that probably needs a tutorial to explain. I took some educated guesses based upon general gear knowledge to figure it out but the gist of it....
There is a pin in there to hold the handle on top and another pin to hold the strap in place. The pin for the strap is visible and can be driven out easy enough.
I cut into the cork with a fairly lucky guess and located the hidden pin there and saved the scrap of cork.

Then you can work off the top of the handle and it was mostly happy accident that the upper pole shaft is a .490 pole as a .433 pole fits right in it and I happen to have both poles and pieces handy.
From there... it takes a bit of very careful drilling (specially without a drill press) to bore out the plastic/rubber molded top of the handle. But if you are careful what happens is you can bore out the piece without damaging the bushing and insert that pressure fits into the pole shaft with a 1/2" bit.

Then you need to size the protruding .490 pole insert so that when collapsed it equals the finished length of pole you need. I think you could get a 36" pole if you accepted a slight loss in total collapsed size.
Then comes some tricky fitting and some sewing to reestablish the use of the strap and some gluing to clean up the cork handle and it's done.

I know that sucks for help, lol.
They aren't that expensive so at some point I do plan on picking up another pair and seeing if I can put a tutorial together. Maybe even try the 36" version.

That said... I don't use poles. So I have no idea if these poles are crap or not. I like multi-use stuff as much as any SUL person, but trekking poles are a bit like shoes for some people... and a bad fit makes for a crappy hike. So even if you are saving the ounces... if the pole sucks and you hate using it all day long... not much point IMO.

I don't see the bit of pole tip as any issue, though you will be increasing the pole weight slightly which some may dislike or discount outright. I think this came out to 1lb 2oz finished for the pair? Which isn't nuts but it sure ain't a Gossamer gear of Fizan set. But overall of the trekking pole conversions I have seen for this type of pole it seems the cleanest fit structurally and it appears that the construction is similar to Leki and black diamond on these Cascade Tech cheapies. I tried this for a fastpacking customer interested in coming up with an option to cut out the poles because the 26" poles didn't fit their pack very well.

The other thing to think about... poles break often enough on trail. So if you do break a pole tip or you're prone to this type of issue... well now you're double screwed as you lost a pole and a shelter. You can sleep in a bridge with one pole if you have a pad fairly well. That said- with a bit of guyline and a solid stick you could craft an honest spare.

I don't know... so let me know, lol. If there is some interest I could move the project up the long list of projects but it's pretty backburner for now.

[sonofclaus]

Yar... pictures woulda been handy, lol.

This is a bit of a tricky job that probably needs a tutorial to explain. I took some educated guesses based upon general gear knowledge to figure it out but the gist of it....
There is a pin in there to hold the handle on top and another pin to hold the strap in place. The pin for the strap is visible and can be driven out easy enough.
I cut into the cork with a fairly lucky guess and located the hidden pin there and saved the scrap of cork.

Then you can work off the top of the handle and it was mostly happy accident that the upper pole shaft is a .490 pole as a .433 pole fits right in it and I happen to have both poles and pieces handy.
From there... it takes a bit of very careful drilling (specially without a drill press) to bore out the plastic/rubber molded top of the handle. But if you are careful what happens is you can bore out the piece without damaging the bushing and insert that pressure fits into the pole shaft with a 1/2" bit.

Then you need to size the protruding .490 pole insert so that when collapsed it equals the finished length of pole you need. I think you could get a 36" pole if you accepted a slight loss in total collapsed size.
Then comes some tricky fitting and some sewing to reestablish the use of the strap and some gluing to clean up the cork handle and it's done.

I know that sucks for help, lol.
They aren't that expensive so at some point I do plan on picking up another pair and seeing if I can put a tutorial together. Maybe even try the 36" version.

That said... I don't use poles. So I have no idea if these poles are crap or not. I like multi-use stuff as much as any SUL person, but trekking poles are a bit like shoes for some people... and a bad fit makes for a crappy hike. So even if you are saving the ounces... if the pole sucks and you hate using it all day long... not much point IMO.

I don't see the bit of pole tip as any issue, though you will be increasing the pole weight slightly which some may dislike or discount outright. I think this came out to 1lb 2oz finished for the pair? Which isn't nuts but it sure ain't a Gossamer gear of Fizan set. But overall of the trekking pole conversions I have seen for this type of pole it seems the cleanest fit structurally and it appears that the construction is similar to Leki and black diamond on these Cascade Tech cheapies. I tried this for a fastpacking customer interested in coming up with an option to cut out the poles because the 26" poles didn't fit their pack very well.

The other thing to think about... poles break often enough on trail. So if you do break a pole tip or you're prone to this type of issue... well now you're double screwed as you lost a pole and a shelter. You can sleep in a bridge with one pole if you have a pad fairly well. That said- with a bit of guyline and a solid stick you could craft an honest spare.

I don't know... so let me know, lol. If there is some interest I could move the project up the long list of projects but it's pretty backburner for now.

I will give that a shot and if I have questions, I'll come back.