Easy tapping with Tent Peg Wizard

How often have you struggled to bang tent pegs into hard ground while camping? Not only can it cause plenty of frustration, it can often lead to a bent peg or even worse, a bruised thumb.

To the rescue is a nifty new Australian-designed product called the Peg-It Tent Peg Wizard.

This bright yellow gadget, comprised of a moulded plastic 'grip' and internal spring-loaded mechanism, has been designed to make securing and removing tent pegs a faster, easier and safer process.

To use it you pull back the metal striker bar and insert the tent peg into the base. You then position the peg into the tent eyelet and hit the striker bar down all the way using a hammer or mallet.

To remove the peg, you position the lever hook under the peg and lift it out slightly. You then insert the removal bar under the exposed hook and pull the peg out.

The Tent Peg Wizard, which can be used by children, featured on the popular ABC television show The New Inventors earlier this year, where it was the Episode winner as well as recipient of the People’s Choice award.

Inventor Ross Merkel got the idea back in 2002, when at a caravan park he noticed a fellow camper struggling to hammer pegs into the ground. In frustration the man said to Merkel, “Gee, I wish they’d invent something to get these things in easier!”

Seven years and much trial and error later, including the production of a wooden prototype, Merkel released a production version and the Tent Peg Wizard is now also available in the US.

While it's best for standard-sized tent pegs, Ross is currently working on a version designed to cope with larger pegs.

The Tent Peg Wizard can be ordered for $39.95 plus postage from the Peg-It website or from a number of retail outlets listed on the site.


• Got some RV news or released a new product? Email chris.fincham@carsales.com.au