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 about 60mm diameter. It fits into one of the hitch mount post supports, but not the other. |
 The hitch mount that does not accept the Pota 33 mast appears to also be about 62mm diameter. Perhaps it is out of round? Thicker walls? Will need the micrometer to find out, the two different pole receptacles appear to be the same size to eyeball mark 1. |
 The hitch mount that accepts the Pota 33 mast is about 62mm diameter. |
 Pota 33 base fits for this hitch mount after a bit of judicious filing |
 Pota 33 base is too fat for this hitch mount |
 The truck hitch receiver with a step extension that supports the telescoping fiberglass mast. The mast du’jour is the Jac-kite 31 footer. Plus assorted extra junk in the truck bed.
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After trying the mast in both mounts it was clear it was very close to being able to function in one of them. After a few passes with a file around the widest part of the pota33h’s base cap, it was able to just barely slide in to the hitch mount. That will make deploying portable a bit more convenient. Kinda hate putting the file to a massage brand new sort-of-pricey mast, but WTF. Not like I was sending it back anyway.
Also, the pota33h should be FB for use in the screw in earth anchors I use for the beach side deployments. As long as it works with those its worth trying.
The unknowns now are: What it will do with a real antenna attached? Will the friction fit hold in the wind? Will the friction fit hold an antenna without collapsing in the 20 knot winds common on Cape Lookout? Will the carbon fiber be better than fiberglass when stressed? Will the thin wall carbon fiber tubes crack and split, compared to fiberglass more or less likely? Will sand prove to be a bigger problem for this mast than others? Will it really be less floppy than its fiberglass predecessors? Will sand cause it issues? Will it have difficulty being lowered after a roll in the Cape Lookout sand? TBD…soon!
Future post on “mast roundup”?
Made friction connection to tight.How do I release the tight connection?
Good question. The taper of the sections on the 33h are in my opinion not ideal. As in there is not enough taper from top to bottom, the sections are too straight. There is no margin for error. It would be a better product functionally in a 48 inch nested length rather than the 30 inch “backpacker” version.
I should update that post. I had the mast come down in a telescoping cascade. That resulted in two sections that are now completely stuck together. I had not contacted Gigaparts, so maybe they will replace.
With my fiberglass masts I can just “bounce” them by lifting it 8 or 12 inches and tapping it back down sharply(assuming its still vertical).
If you have them on the ground you could try warming the outer section in the sun and icing the inner section. Some silicone lube on the joint might help release a stuck section, but should probably need to be washed off later. Maybe a pair of strap wrenches to leverage the twist.
Another more sketchy possibility if you have an extra set of hands available: take the mast apart, stand the stuck sections up on a rubber mat(or inside a soft sole shoe), and have one person twist while the second taps on top with a rubber mallet. You could try that horizontally on the ground resting the base against a car tire.
It is exasperating enough that I use the fiberglass masts instead. The carbon fiber mast is much stronger and stiffer, but I lost 30 inches of height with the sections stuck together nested. And I keep worrying about another problem popping up when I don’t have time to deal with it.
FWIW, I always have a hack saw along when I go portable in case I ever get 3 or more sections stuck. :O Better to chop the mast than miss the ferry off the desert island. Not ideal.
Let me know if you get the problem resolved, and how you did it.