Square vs Round

[Marmot]

Maybe this has been debated on here before...

I am looking to purchase a flip over shanty. I currently have a Clam (suitcase). My Clam has square tubing. This tubing can be a real SOB in cold and windy weather as it likes to bind when setting up or tearing down.

Is round tubing easier to deal with in the cold and wind than the square tubing?

I am looking at a 1-man Eskimo which I believe has round tubing and a Team Wild 2-man which I believe has square tubing. I prefer the Team Wild flip over due to it being a little bit bigger, but should still be manageable for me to pull around by hand. I am not sure if I want to fight with square tubing though so that brings me to consider the 1-man Eskimo.

So which is better, square or round?

[wishing for walleyes]

I have an eskimo lodge 8x8 with round tubing and it really works great.It can be set up in 30 seconds as eskimo described.I timed a buddy setting it up...30 seconds is what it took him.I have never had one with square tubing.

[harvey lee]

My Otter square tubing works pretty good. I also have used round tubing and that also is very good. Otter is coming out with a new pole design next season and it looks to be as good for sliding as the round, yet much more durable when it comes to bending.

I also do some work with my suqare poles to keep them sliding smooth and nice. I also like the fact that the square tubing is so much more less likely to bend.

I used a Canvas Craft house this weekend and never saw a round pole design as heavy as they were and yet wouls slide so well. They were the nicest poles I have ever used.

[Marmot]

I am not an engineer, but I don't doubt square tubes tend to be stronger in portable shanties. With that said...Are the round tubes that much weaker one has to be concerned about the round poles bending or breaking? I find it hard to believe round poles will bend or break unless you are abusing the shanty or are trying to fish in 40 MPH gusts. Then again, I haven't spent much time fishing from shanties with round poles, just square ones.

[zamboni]

I have a clam 5600, and have never had any problems whatsoever with set-up, and tear down. Do you keep your tubes lubed up?

[52#FLATHEAD]

The round poles in my Voyager work great & don't bind or lock-up. Very sturdy. I think I would get blown across the lake before the round poles in my Voyager bent or broke.

[MuleShack]

Many years ago i had the original otter flip over house and it had round poles, but they were small and tended to bind because it was a loose fitting pole inside another with no guides.

The new generation houses, like the X2 has round galvanized coating with a sleeve that fits tight around the 1" or greater tubing. Slides smoothly and locks and unlocks easily. Sets up in seconds. It would take quite a bit to bend these poles.

I have not had any experience with the square tubing, but if it is designed the same, it should also function flawlessly.

[fishinJohn]

I have otter's wilderness walleye with square tubing. I picked up some Amsoil MP spray because the poles were really hard to move. Now I could slide them in/out with one hand if I wanted to. I could slide all of them at once easily; it's not an issue at all any more. Pulling by hand through snow and slush is another story...

[schr0563]

Something to think about - I have a Fish Trap Guide with round poles. I have never had a problem with binding poles until the poles got slightly bent. I bent them when the fabric became frozen to the ice during an extremely cold day of fishing. Trying to break the house free resulted in a slight curve to my last set of poles. Point is, regardless of which style pole you get be careful with how you handle them. I didn't think I was mis-handling the house at the time I bent the poles, and it wasn't until I tried to collapse the poles that I noticed the last set had bound up.

[Hotspotter]

I think a major benefit to the square tubing design is to require that torque applied to one side of the house and its poles, is also applied to the other. In other words, obviously one square tube can't rotate inside of another. The majority of bent poles I've seen result in abuse as stated earlier, but I've seen instances where the ATV, auger, ice or other weight is on one edge of the house, and someone goes to lift up the other corner, bending the 90-degree curved piece out of whack on both sides. Try to do that with square tubing and it "fights-back" a bit better, not allowing you to lift the other corner up very well. Basically, it prevents you from "twisting" the internal frame of the house. I think the square tubing is a bit more crush-proof as well.

Again, as stated, without abuse this shouldn't be an issue, but extra ruggedness is never a bad feature. Also, I'd inspect the poles for each shack in person.

Joel