However, the diameter of my Decathlon fishing rod is much smaller than the inner diameter of the holder. Stephan uses his endfed and the mast is additionally held with it. I wasn’t too happy with that on my vertical. It wobbled too much for me and I was afraid that the holder would be enough and that it would fall over.
That’s why I thought about how I can fix it well in the holder:
I made a winding with a matching rope.
I also like to use these pole mounts for grassy and wooded hills. These mounts are very lightweight, stay on my poles all the time, and take up virtually no extra room in my backpack.
The holders are slightly tapered from top to bottom.
The outer diameters are approx. 51.5 mm at the top and approx. 49 mm at the bottom.
The inner diameter at the top is approx. 48 mm.
Hi Armin,
I also have that exact holder. My second one, as the peg in the bottom broke the plastic when I tried to use my first one to support my 10m DX-Wire mini-mast. Now I only use this new one with my 6 or 5m masts and I hit the exact same problem as you described when I was out yesterday on a summit and my solution was to simply grab a length of thin-rope/thick-cord and stuff it down the sides of the mast so that it sat correctly vertical. It’s not as tidy a solution as yours but the principal is the same. In the past I have also used thick rubber bands to do the same “packing” action, but those I wound quickly around the bottom of the mast.
73 Ed.
P.S. when packed away. I have a piece of thick foam rubber normally used for packaging, that goes over the pointed stick, when packed to avoid any “nasty surprises”.
I like to believe that the holder was overwhelmed with the DX Wire Mini Mast.
I was happy to pack it up and tidy it up for transport. Again (like with the DX Wire Mini Mast) I sewed a quiver from a leftover piece of tarpaulin in which everything finds its place. It’s slim and I can easily store it on the side of my backpack. If I need the space in the backpack for other things, I attach it to the outside of the backpack.
Hi, I use an Orange one … with a 6m Caperlan LakeSide 1 in glass fiber … the diameter is OK with this rod.
I bring some ropes with ultralight tent stake when the wind is growing.
To protect your backpack, you can turn the tip inside the holder, I quickly lost the cap
The base cap diameter of the 10 m DX WIRE mini mast is larger than the inner diameter of this mast holder, which is why your story could not happen in reality …
Even if this mast, which weighs approx. 1300 g, could just be pushed into the holder, from the point of view of the forces acting on the ground spike and its attachment, this would be an act that could hardly be forgiven …
From my experience, the forces acting on the misused fish rod holder with a 6 m fiberglass mast such as the SOTABEAMS Tactical Mini (720 g) are on the limit of what is reasonable. The 6 m carbon masts with a weight of approx. 300 g hardly cause an overload.
The additional bracing of the mast with a hiking stick (hand strap around the mast) has proven very useful for me, in general and especially when it is windy.
A somewhat more robust mast holder made from an aluminum bracket is used for stony ground or generally with 6 m fiberglass masts (photo).
Yes Andy, I think I know some of those unfortunate Activators from the comments they made on this reflector.
A few years ago I received this 6 m life’s a breeze mast as a gift from Bruno@HB9CBR, generously together with a box of “Badener Steine”, as a thank you for one of my 10.90 m inv-L multi-band antennas.
Fairly easy to make a rod holder from a short length of PVC pipe, an end cap, a long bolt and nut, or a length of 3/8 inch or 10 mm all thread and a couple of nuts and washers.
OH - Thanks Heinz, I just checked and you are absolutely correct - the first (orange) mast holder definitely broke when I was using it though - it must have been just with the 6 metre mast in that case. So far the new (blue) one has survived. I’ll need to be careful that same doesn’t happen again to the mast holder.
Hi Martin,
These look very nice but according to the advert only take rods up to 1.4" (about 3.55 cm) base diameter. So only the slimmer rods, even the 5m mini-mast from Lambdahalbe is too wide for these mounts.
73 Ed.
Update - Checking measurements these mounts could fit inside an extended 6m LH mini-mast mast with the base cap removed - but it would be a tight fit.
Here is a homebrew version which cost me $3.75 in parts. I salvaged the PVC pipe and end cap from a former 70 cm flowerpot antenna. The 6m telescopic pole is lightweight and is used to support a 2m SlimJim, or a 2m flowerpot antenna or a nested pair of 2m and 70cm oblong loops.
Construction:
Using a hacksaw cut off the bolt head then drill a 10 mm hole in the end cap. Grind the top of the bolt (non thread end) to a sharp point.
