starcraft bunk poles vs. jayco bunk cables

[skippy102162]

Are either of these "better" than the other?

[Dee4j]

I have cables and they seem to work great. I think I have read people don't like the poles as much ..check out the "if you can change one thing" thread

[dee106]

we have the poles and find it no big deal, takes a few seconds more.

[Cheryl]

Dh is extremely happy with the bed cables on our Rockwood. With bad knees, getting under the bed to set the poles was ackward at best and painfull at the worst.
Cheryl

[campingcop]

had poles with the PUP now have cables with the hybrid, like the cables

[PopupSgt]

 We have the cables and they are wonderful, easy to set-up and tear down.  Just undo the holding clamps, lower the bed, and your done.  There are no poles to store or worry about, plus don't have to worry about a wind picking the empty bed up and causing a pole to fall out.   [/b]

[campertime]

We have the poles and don't mind them. Of course we don't know how the cables are.

This is second hand info I have come across on a few forums. There have been problems with the cable system. The pins at the top of the bunkend opening that hold the cables are sharp and cause pin holes in the canvas. I also read where one person had a tear in the canvas from the pins. So everyone with cables should keep there eyes on this. Seems to be a very limited problem or just an unkown one.

Here's an example

[StarVol]

First let me start off saying we are a Starcraft Dealership (Poles)
I show the customer the weight distribution of the poles vs the cables in a demonstration by explaining the Physics of both. The poles support you from underneath where as the cables support you from above. The poles take the weight and distributes it around the bed and then back to the frame. The cables are supported by the sidewalls and when weight is out on the bunk ends then it applies stress on the sidewalls and pulls them toward the center of the unit. Starcraft has unlimited sleeping weight on the bunk ends. Sure it takes extra two minutes to put of poles on both ends but the long term stress on the camper is very little. This past holiday we took out a 2004 Travel Star 23SRG unit and my wife and I slept on the front bunk end with out fear of it giving away. I'm 6'2" 350 and wife (we will not go there ). My first time out in the Hybrid and will not be my last. I was shocked by the room that it gave us.  

Happy Camping

[chasd60]

It takes me about 5 seconds to drop the poles into the holes and another 5 seconds to insert them into the bunkends. I set the bunkends up by myself.

If the cables meant that all of the fabric was preattched to the bunkends and you just dropped the ends and you only had to put the sheherds pole in. I would go for the cables. My understanding is that non of the hybrids offer 100% attached fabric on the bunkends.
The additional force applied by the poles would be the outward pull on the hinge because the poles hold the bunkends up with an outward force. They are not at a right angle to the bunkend. This force is evenly distributed across the width of the bunkend.

[StarVol]

It takes me about 5 seconds to drop the poles into the holes and another 5 seconds to insert them into the bunk ends. I set the bunk ends up by myself.

If the cables meant that all of the fabric was preattched to the bunk ends and you just dropped the ends and you only had to put the sheherds pole in. I would go for the cables. My understanding is that non of the hybrids offer 100% attached fabric on the bunk ends.
The additional force applied by the poles would be the outward pull on the hinge because the poles hold the bunk ends up with an outward force. They are not at a right angle to the bunk end. This force is evenly distributed across the width of the bunk end.

Starcraft is different than the other Hybrids using poles. They do not have weight on the Hinge. The front support uses a U-Shape Pole Setup to pull the weight away from the hinge. It will set up higher than the hinge to take all of the weight off. The hinge is used for one thing and that is for opening and closing. The rear and side supports have L-Shape brackets to take the weight of those hinges.  The other Hybrid brands have one set of poles that slip in and hold up the bed plus use the hinge as another support.  

Happy Camping

[Gone-Camping]

My TC has poles and I have no issues with them. The only draw back to the poles may be the fact you have to dig them out and set them in place. Another drawback may be hyperextending the bed door if you don't lower it properly or it gets away from you before having the poles in position. Can't exactly happen with mine, I have an electric tongue jack so the front bunk would simply fall on that, only about 1 inch clearance under normal conditions. The rear can't hyperextend either because of my bike rack back there, again only an inch or so of clearance.

I have read threads somewhere of someone actually having the bunk door slip out of their hand and slam down onto the back of the trailer....guess that can't happen with cables!

[chasd60]

Probably the biggest drawback with the poles is.......................... forgetting them at the las CG you went to.
I haven't done this but I'll bet it is one of things that you would never forget if you had done it.