Have you ever experienced where the poles on your flip over portables get sticky or stuck when you are setting up or breaking down?
I have fought with this issue numerous times to where i even ended up bending the poles and had to straighten them back out but never seemed to find the original allignment position. Wondering if a lubricant like Hot Sauce or something else besides WD-40 would work.
Any suggestions?
Thats funny you mentioned this. I am waiting for the temp to climb a little here and im going to go out in the garage and fix my bottom bar on the Otter Cabin. It does the same thing you mentioned, get stuck or has a lot of friction and takes some force to move it in or out. Good thing Otter has the Square tubing or else I’m guessing mine would be bent too! I’m going to try some WD40 in it, and ill let ya know how it works out!
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Thats funny you mentioned this. I am waiting for the temp to climb a little here and im going to go out in the garage and fix my bottom bar on the Otter Cabin. It does the same thing you mentioned, get stuck or has a lot of friction and takes some force to move it in or out. Good thing Otter has the Square tubing or else I’m guessing mine would be bent too! I’m going to try some WD40 in it, and ill let ya know how it works out!
I have a new Otter Cabin and have problems with all the poles. It sounds like metal on metal. I’m not impressed with the system. I put on some silicon spray. It helped a little, but there is some serious friction going on.
I don’t use any lub. What I would suggest is to bring the shack inside, break it down and sand all of the end butts smooth. (File, grind, sand) Then take steel wool and rub all of the poles down smooth. You will never have the problem again.
-J.
Hmmm, all the poles huh? Did you try taking them apart and re installing the plastic piece and bars? Mine is only the very bottom one and mainly the right side, otherwise they are perfect!
I just worked on my garage door opener slide bar last week. The previous owner used a lube that turned to nearly a glue consistentcy. I used Jig-a-loo on it to clean off the old stuff and then sprayed it with the Jig-a-loo again. The can says it doesn’t freeze and my garage doors were working at near-zero temp last night.
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Hmmm, all the poles huh? Did you try taking them apart and re installing the plastic piece and bars? Mine is only the very bottom one and mainly the right side, otherwise they are perfect!
I took the worst ones apart (not an easy thing to do, btw) It didn’t help. I need to take a look at someone else’s and see how it is supposed to be? Maybe my expectations are just high.
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Hmmm, all the poles huh? Did you try taking them apart and re installing the plastic piece and bars? Mine is only the very bottom one and mainly the right side, otherwise they are perfect!
I took the worst ones apart (not an easy thing to do, btw) It didn’t help. I need to take a look at someone else’s and see how it is supposed to be? Maybe my expectations are just high.
Doesn’ sound right Chris. Mine work with ease compared to other brands!
I almost wonder if there are parts missing. The whole thing was a chore to put together. Everything was off just a little bit. I wonder if that’s why I got it so cheap. 
if you get a clam house get it with the big poles they work great,you need to keep any of them clean,you would be amazed how they hold moisture and rust if you dont have the round aluminum poles.
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I don’t use any lub. What I would suggest is to bring the shack inside, break it down and sand all of the end butts smooth. (File, grind, sand) Then take steel wool and rub all of the poles down smooth. You will never have the problem again.
-J.
Jon…great tip. I do this somewhat at the end of the season, just in case. Steel wool rocks.
There does come a point n the season where you need try and get all the water out of the inside of the poles 
i have an older otter that the poles are the circular metal pipe where one slides into the other….Had a similar problem a few years ago and what i did was i set the house up, sanded with very fine grit any rust/corrosive areas then wiped vasoline on the tube that slides in. I have done this now for the last few years with no problems…
When I bought my trap years ago they had an immediate recall because the original poles were all aluminum and will bind on itself. The fix was one of the telescoping poles was aluminum and the other galvinized steel. Dont tell me some mfg and trying to use alum on alum again??
I’ve never had any problems with stuck poles in the winter. The first thing a shack gets after set-up (initially and annually) is a good rubbing of gun oil. I prefer CLP but Rem-Oil(Teflon) also works well. I don’t just spray it on the poles, I will spray, let sit, rub/wipe and make sure every surface is coated. Never had a problem.
The other use I found for gun oil is on the shower rod. We have metal hooks riding on the metal rod. Always binding up. Now I just give it a good rub with gun oil once a year and they slide beautifully. The problem with WD-40 is it really isn’t designed to be used as a leave behind lubricant like gun oil is.
I should also add, nothing works better on aluminum/aluminum friction than a neverseize product. Just might get a little messy…
I was told to use liquid car wax on mine. tried it and did not notice a difference, sure did make a mess on the canvas though.
Zoomer
I used some emery cloth and sanded all the inner tubes on my fish trap, then put some frabill sub zero lube on the poles. It helped alot but they still aren’t perfect.
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