I just returned from a paddle with two nights spent on sandbars. This was the debut trip for my Tensa 4. It performed wonderfully, with one complication. A little sand and moisture got in the joints of the poles during the night, resulting in some frozen joints. Sand also prevented some of the spring loaded buttons from working properly. It took the help of at least one and sometimes both of my companions to get the segments apart (one to held the lock button down and two to pull on either end with both hands) so I could clean out the sand particles as best I could. Some of the pole segments got scratched up by this work, although that didn't affect the poles' function. In the end, it took a lot of time to dissemble the stand and clean up the poles so as not to repeat the issue that evening. The second night and morning after went much better, although I don't remember whether or not I still had to deal with a few sticking issues.

During the first night, a stiff wind kicked up with some wild gusts. This persisted for 16 hours, making breaking camp in the morning and the next day's paddle into the wind fairly challenging. I lay in my hammock that night wondering if my tarp was going to fly away and was quite relieved to gain confidence after a long while that it was going to stay put, which allowed me to get back to sleep despite the loud flapping of the tarp. I wonder if that driving wind was responsible for the sand infiltrating the pole joints.

But I also wonder if the issue is much more mundane than that and that I need to be very careful about how I lay the poles on the sand during setup. In other words, I'm not sure how susceptible the Tensa 4 is to this problem of sand getting in the joints. As a preventative solution, I've thought of bringing along a roll of painter's tape next time I make a similar trip so I can tape the joints after the poles are extended.

Does anyone have any experience with sand mucking up the pole joints? Any thoughts about whether this is an expected hazard of using the stand on sand or was the result of the strong winds?