gauvins

I have the one up components EDC pump. Unlike many/most pumps where the piston is a rod connected to a washer+gasket, the EDC is an empty cylinder 27mm ID that can be used for storage (ex: multitool). I am considering using it as a stake hammer (twice this year stakes have failed in high wind. Pushing by hand isn't enough, pushing with foot is a sure way to bend shepherds, finding a decent rock can take quite some time, carrying a dedicated stake hammer is ... Not ideal.

I sent an email to One Up. Reaction was positive. The pump "might" be strong enough, and they said they'd replace parts if needed. I am some kind of R&D effort

Current thinking is to bolt a metal part to a 26mm dowel and insert it in the pump cylinder.

I am standing roadside (waiting for others) so forgive the cryptic description. Which is perhaps best in the context of a "brainstorm".

The simple version is that I don't feel like carrying a hammer so I am exploring alternatives.

Ideas appreciated
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mtnbud

This would be a tool that nests inside of the pump?
I'd try pounding in a tent stake using something metal that is small enough to fit in the pump and see how it goes. If it goes well, then try to figure the best way to shape it to fit inside the pump. The biggest issue I foresee is the small surface area of your pounding surface may make it difficult to hit the tent stake with enough force to make it worth it. If you own a grinder, you could use a bolt with a head that is slightly too large and grind it down to fit inside the pump.

saddlesores

6" long 1" dia dowel rod with 1" cast iron pipe end screwed on.

https://newnestshop.com/cdn/shop/products/61AeBrcLicL_800x.jpg

gauvins

no. The idea is to use the pump as the hammer handle, to which a head is added.

​​​This is the pump in question.

The head should have some heft. The insert (1" OD) shouldn't be too long, otherwise I might as well carry a hammer; nor too short in order to reduce the stress on the pump body. So ... A hammer head with rounded edges that slides inside the pump cylinder (and stays there).

In the first post I suggested a wood dowel. Now I think a bronze (no corrosion) rod might be better. The insert shouldn't rotate or be ejected, so perhaps a compressed rubber gasket + washer world be preferable.

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mev

Slight aside, I avoid the bending issue by using titanium nails - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078H69GLD

irc

I solved my tent peg problem by buying these pegs. The top folds over at 90 degrees giving a flat surface allowing sufficient weight to be placed on the pegs by hand for most ground conditions. Should a bash with a rock still be needed the target is bigger.

There is a hole in the top allowing a cord to be attached for pulling them back out.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001GJM340/

Doug64

I've found from experience that a small dent or distortion of the pump's cylinder body can make the pump useless. I'd think of some other way than using my pump to drive tent stakes.

gauvins

Makes sense.

Coincidence, a camp chair failed yesterday. The "leg" is a small, spherical contraption that fits perfectly on top of Big Agnes stakes. I can easily pushed the stakes almost flush to the ground. So the plan is to use nail pegs and push them by hand.

Tourist in MSN

That sounds like a good idea.

And if the soil was hard enough that you still need to pound on the stake, you could hold a shoe in your hand like a mallet and pound in the stake with the heel, the round chair part would prevent the stake from damaging the heel of the shoe.

staehpj1

Sounds good. Something to allow a better push eliminates most of the need for pounding.

I have always MSR needle stakes and very seldom needed anything but my hands. When I did I sometimes used my bike shoe to push with. In the reletively rare cases I did need something else there was usually a rock handy. I do recall one case where I searched pretty long for a rock, but that was only once.

niknak

Seems like the hammer head needs to be heavy enough to be effective. What's wrong with using a rock found on site? Nothing to carry with you.

Tourist in MSN

There are a lot of places without a convenient rock nearby.

niknak

I guess I've never visited those places before. Regardless, your idea is novel. Please post a photo when you've made it.

gauvins

Not entirely clear that this will come to fruition. The risk of damaging the pump may not be worth the benefit of limited savings on packed size.

Tourist in MSN

Not sure if the solution is better stakes or something to pound them in with. Or, more stakes to allow doubling up on stakes for some lines.

Most of my tents have a couple lines that take a lot more stress than the other tent lines. When I buy a tent, the first thing I do is add two to four extra stakes that are larger. They are not teh solution in hard ground, but where I can push them in without a hammer, they are the solution for wind. And sometimes where the soil has a lot of roots and pebbles where it can be hard to get a stake in deep enough, I will use two or three stakes at different angles for one tent line for better anchoring to the soil. That you can do when you added more stakes to your stake bag.

Yes, the extra stakes are not saving grams, but they often are the solution. But, those compacted soils that you sometimes see in cramped campgrounds, that is when you need the hammer, which I do not carry.

cyccommute 

I agree with Doug64 with regard to using the pump itself as a hammer. The pump needs a smooth bore to for the piston to seal and move air. Bending it will result in a useless pump and a poor hammer.

As for stakes, some things come to mind. First, use a shoe if you can’t find a rock. Use a branch if you can’t use your shoe and can’t find a rock. I don’t know what pegs you are using but perhaps you should look into better stakes. I have MSR CarbonCore stakes that wouldn’t bend if you stood on them (I have). Yes, they are expensive but I bought mine around 2011 and they are still going strong. MSR Ground Hog (or similar) are strong as well. I’ve used ones similar to the Ground Hog and they would be difficult to bend. The CarbonCore’s button top is easier to loop lines around however.
Just to be clear, most of my camping occurs in Colorado where prepared pads are few. Most of them are just bare patches of dirt with many being bare patches of gravel like this one. You can see how far in I can drive the stakes but they seemed to hold well.

njkayaker

Pumps are generally designed to be light. It seems almost certain it would damage the pump (sooner or later).

njkayaker

(Look under your sleeping bag. There's always a rock there.)

imi

^^^ 🤣

gauvins

The idea was to design a hammer head that would fit a 27mm ID pump piston. I now think that a much better solution is to assemble a hammer inspired by MSR's, that would fit inside the pump.

The handle should be 26mm OD aluminium tubing. The head would be taken from a small hammer line this one, i.e. cut somewhere along the handle with a grinder and fitted/epoxied inside the aluminum tube.

Assuming a 2mm gauge tube, there should be enough space in 22mm ID to store 8+ 5mm nail pegs inside such hammer, and then slide the hammer inside the pump piston (the hammer head protruding).

A nice DIY project for rainy fall days

Tourist in MSN

I mentioned in a previous post that I carry a few heavier duty stakes for a few of the tent lines. I bought some stakes that were made from aluminum rod, total stake length with head was about 225mm, rod diameter was 8mm.

I cut a piece of spare lumber to about 37mm X 37mm X 85mm. Drilled two holes in it, slightly larger than 8mm.

I could insert two of those larger tent stakes in the two parallel holes in that wooden block. The two stakes when gripped in one hand together became a handle, the block of wood was a pretty good mallet for driving stakes. Worked great until I lost the block of wood at some campsite, have not gotten around to making another yet.

A chunk of wood that size is not going to fit inside your pump. Just describing an experiment I made in case it gives you any creative ideas.

balto charlie

Interesting concept, hope it works out.

One of my pet peeves with campgrounds these days is the need to make the tent pad into a rock base. I hate them. It is one of the reason I tend to bikepack these days. I just camped in W.Va on a gravel ride and slept in dispersed camp areas with soft moss and pine needles underneath my tent. It was so comfy. My stakes went in easily, which is good because the gravel roads kicked my a$$.

tcs

Nothing complements an ultralight tent like a purpose-appropriate stake mallet.



Not mine; as seen on YouTube.

Tourist in MSN

I had not even thought about buying a tent stake mallet until I read this thread. I recently bought one of these:
https://www.temu.com/outdoor-camping...519283249.html

Arrived a couple days ago. At only 118 grams (on my scale), not sure if it will accomplish a lot, but it was cheap enough to roll the dice.

Too heavy to carry backpacking, and backpacking I never find ground is too hard to get stakes into the soil. I probably will try it out in October on a canoe trip. After that will decide if it is worth it on a bike tour. I only rarely encounter ground that is hard enough to need a mallet.
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indyfabz

That way is called a “rock.”