K4309 258 Posted January 27 Share Posted January 27 I am after stiff fibreglass sail battens for my boom tent. I'm after the solid type that keep the boom tent nice and flat. Got some old battens from my last mainsail and the boom tent bows over, any cross breeze and it's a pain in the arse. I've been seeing boats out over January with nice flat stiff boom tents - getting jealous. Anyone know an Auckland based supplier? I've done extensive googling and coming up with zilch (found loads of other useful companies, including the wholesaler for Planasol, which could be handy. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Frank 157 Posted January 27 Share Posted January 27 Like you I tried mainsail battens, they were hopelessly floppy so I switched to PVC conduit which did the job nicely but from memory it needed to be 25 or 30 mm dia. They were a PITA to stow so after a few seasons I went back to a simple battenless tent, easy to fold and stow. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LBD 128 Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 Holly from M5 maring made mine and used a round fiberglass pole... https://www.resincraft.co.nz/products/fibreglass-rods 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
aardvarkash10 960 Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 Collapsible fibreglass tent poles - the bendy ones for dome tents. The elastic through them keeps them together but they collapse down to a manageable size. You can take the elastic out and trim the lengths of the poles to match the dimension you need. Available in a variety of diameters and lengths, cheap as chips. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vivaldi 53 Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 Otherwise Doyles in Rosebank Rd can supply the stiff battens. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Psyche 633 Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 My tent had 20mm glass poles, very stiff but I am looking for an alternative because they chafe the sail cover. Fine for a day but if you leave it up for a week then its a problem. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Stray Cat 7 Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 I’ve got a couple of old fibreglass rod battens just taken out of our old sail cover. Approx 15mm x 6.9 mtr long. Free to good home. Collect Gulf Harbour. 1 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
K4309 258 Posted January 31 Author Share Posted January 31 5 hours ago, Stray Cat said: I’ve got a couple of old fibreglass rod battens just taken out of our old sail cover. Approx 15mm x 6.9 mtr long. Free to good home. Collect Gulf Harbour. Message sent. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
K4309 258 Posted January 31 Author Share Posted January 31 Thanks for all the replies. I've worked through all the options and are still on the hunt. The biggest batten Doyle's have at the moment is 20mm by 12mm. My current ones are 20mm by 8mm, so I'm not expecting the stiffness I'm after. Just went through Bunnings look at all sorts of conduit, pipe etc, as expected they are all way too soft. I've used fibreglass tent poles in the past, it's what I started with. Basically next to useless for my application, very bendy. Could work if I attached them to the toe rail each side and made a tunnel, but I'm really after a flat style sunshade / boom tent, the main reason being for good viz while motoring / moving the boat around. What I found on the Summer cruise was once at the target location we just left the boom tent up for days, including day trips around beaches, swimming spots, overnight anchorages and out to drop the holding tank kind of stuff. Also just been to Hunting and Fishing on the hope of finding spare tent poles, as in big canvas tent poles. Several of the big tent brands offer awning poles or replacement poles and the like. Should be stiff enough, demountable so I can store them. I'd probably need a couple stuck together to get the length. Anyway, HnFishing are fully sold out, of course... Hoping Stray Cat's ones are still available and are just what I need. Otherwise I might need to get something made bespoke, like a Kilwell fishing rod / tube section with a joiner butt (like many fishing rods have). That would be top shelf, but I expect that option would require excessive boat dollars. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
waikiore 399 Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Stray cats sound good to me if you dont use them Quote Link to post Share on other sites
aardvarkash10 960 Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Kilwell in Rotorua, or c-tech here? Both have stock extrusions in a variety of dimensions iirc Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Addem 95 Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 I have some collapsible tent poles you can have. I'll dig them out and pm you the specs. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sudden5869 17 Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 15 hours ago, Addem said: I have some collapsible tent poles you can have. I'll dig them out and pm you the specs. I'm wondering how effective the 15mm collapsible / sectional tent poles would be? Especially if applied to a 3 metre wide boom tent. They looks to be available at Mitre 10 and Marine Deals (in a week or two) https://www.mitre10.co.nz/shop/kiwi-camping-fibreglass-tent-pole-kit/p/217875 https://www.marine-deals.co.nz/kiwi-camping-fibreglass-dome-tent-pole-section-15mm-qty-5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
aardvarkash10 960 Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 44 minutes ago, Sudden5869 said: I'm wondering how effective the 15mm collapsible / sectional tent poles would be? Especially if applied to a 3 metre wide boom tent. They looks to be available at Mitre 10 and Marine Deals (in a week or two) https://www.mitre10.co.nz/shop/kiwi-camping-fibreglass-tent-pole-kit/p/217875 https://www.marine-deals.co.nz/kiwi-camping-fibreglass-dome-tent-pole-section-15mm-qty-5 They do need a curve and tension to work well. Ours are guyed down to the life lines at each side and forms a tunnel. I doubt they would work well self-supporting as K4309 proposes 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Y88 5241 25 Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 10 hours ago, Sudden5869 said: I'm wondering how effective the 15mm collapsible / sectional tent poles would be? Especially if applied to a 3 metre wide boom tent. They looks to be available at Mitre 10 and Marine Deals (in a week or two) https://www.mitre10.co.nz/shop/kiwi-camping-fibreglass-tent-pole-kit/p/217875 https://www.marine-deals.co.nz/kiwi-camping-fibreglass-dome-tent-pole-section-15mm-qty-5 Depends on how heavy your boom tent is, we have sunbrella material and very heavy duty and requires big batterns, no way would tent poles work for this 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ballystick 72 Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 I was at Bunnings today and found this drain cleaning kit with rods that may do the job, good pricing too Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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