Looking at a few of the promo vids folks have posted so far about the Pota33H mast I decided to take a chance on it and the order arrived late last week. On first look I thought it might not be long enough to stretch to the 30-ish feet, but I underestimated the strength of the carbon fiber. For its short length it has a lot of sections inside, and the top section is about 1/2 inch diameter tube. Thicker tubes are stronger than thinner. The carbon fiber provides a lot of strength in a much thinner level of material, so it should be just fine. I expect it will have less flop/droop than any of the fiberglass masts. But the folks who got it made should be happy, it seems to check all of the design goals any backpacker might have for compact, lightweight, and strength.
It did have a couple of caveats for my own uses. If the mast were a full 48 inches I would like it better, but it was designed for its short collapsed length. The second caveat is more of an impact for my own purposes. The base piece at the bottom of the mast is heavy duty, and quite thick. The end cap is thick and sturdy. So thick that as delivered it is just slightly too large to fit in one of my favored mount methods, a trailer hitch post holder.
The end cap from the pota33H after filing is […]
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