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Powerex bamboo masts

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Created by col5555 > 9 months ago, 18 Dec 2014
col5555
WA, 378 posts
18 Dec 2014 8:31PM
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Interesting use of material.

www.powerexmasts.com/products/details.php?product=12

Scoob
WA, 88 posts
18 Dec 2014 9:57PM
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Should be OK, unless you have a Panda.

Mark _australia
WA, 22392 posts
18 Dec 2014 10:05PM
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What a load of spin (wank??)

From what I can tell (thru the Engrish and wankwords) is it is a carbon mast with a very thin veneer of bamboo laminated on the outside (much like Powerex had a layer of Kevlar in the boom area of their current masts. Good idea, make a durable outer .... but why bamboo not Kevlar, Spectra, etc? Hmmm maybe a marketing person thought bamboo sounds good, like all those coconut boards........


Lets have a look:

The bamboo is cut in a thin foil and it is pre-treated to be completely water-proof and corrosion resistant. (I have never yet seen wood rust??!!!) After this initial phase, the bamboo is melted (WTF, they melt the bamboo? Wow. Maybe they melt the carbon at 3500deg also? Anyway I reckon the bamboo is pretty fkd after being melted!!!) together with the carbon fibers, covering the most external layers of the mast. Thanks to our ULTRA STRATIFICATION TECHNOLOGY, (stratification means layering of rocks and stuff. Trying to sound technical huh? The worst kind of spin I guess what you mean is layering - and we all know masts are layers of stuff same as boards so stop talking it up ) the carbon fiber and the bamboo foil are electronically matched together (electronically??? WTF?) and bond (bonded? simple English...) using AEROSPACE MATRIX resins. Woooooo weeee. aeropace huh? and Matrix - like Keanu Reeves was involved? Or are we just talking epoxy, vinyl ester etc? I suspect it is more just normal resin goop.


If you have to write such a load of sh!t it looks like you are trying too hard.

If they wrote "same as our old mast but 10% less breakages in the lab and real-world trials, and now with bamboo veneer for 28% increased abrasion resistance. It is 100g lighter in the 400cm RDM. 2 year unconditional warranty"

THEN I am in.

Mark _australia
WA, 22392 posts
18 Dec 2014 10:17PM
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Oh god I read further. It is 100% carbon yet contains titanium and bamboo. Apart from the fact the math is wrong, isn't carbon stronger for it's weight than titanium....? I dunno, where is IanK?

Then of course the top and bottoms being interchangeable and bought separately being such an innovation? Welcome to Ezzy RDM circa2003
duh.
BTW they are still unbreakable too at 91% and without using panda food, titanium wire and a lot of wankwords.






AUS1111
WA, 3619 posts
18 Dec 2014 10:38PM
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So that's a "No" from you Mark?

petermac33
WA, 6415 posts
18 Dec 2014 10:58PM
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There is so much hype in windsurfing it pulls you in to buying the latest gear.

RDM masts are possibly the exception. They do tend to last a lot longer than thinner walled SDM masts from the people I've spoken to.


I reckon I was going faster for peak speed in chop on my old 2005 Kinetic 52 wide than on any of the new short and wide hi wind boards!

Mark _australia
WA, 22392 posts
18 Dec 2014 11:14PM
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Select to expand quote
AUS1111 said..
So that's a "No" from you Mark?


Well if they want a new team rider ........

but I think I have done my dash huh....

clarence
TAS, 979 posts
19 Dec 2014 2:37AM
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Back in the 80s there were a few guys who windsurfed from Australia to PNG. Broke a mast on the way, and replaced it with a big piece of bamboo (before computerised stratification manufacture). Apparently it worked but was extremely heavy. At least it has a ready made sleeve for the mast extension.

Would match the bamboo flooring and bamboo clothing for that seamless look.

Bamboo is big in Asia as a scaffolding material in its raw state. See all those strands of spectra and carbon fibre hanging off that guy's belt.

Clarence


da vecta
QLD, 2512 posts
19 Dec 2014 8:47AM
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Select to expand quote
Mark _australia said...
AUS1111 said..
So that's a "No" from you Mark?


Well if they want a new team rider ........

but I think I have done my dash huh....


I believe they're in negotiations with Evil Panda.

mineral1
WA, 4564 posts
19 Dec 2014 7:50AM
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There is an old saying in business.
The Father makes the fortune, and the errant siblings loose the fortune.
Might just be the case here with this brand, which apparently isn't a touch on the original product quality

jusavina
QLD, 1463 posts
19 Dec 2014 10:51AM
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Select to expand quote
da vecta said..

Mark _australia said...

AUS1111 said..
So that's a "No" from you Mark?



Well if they want a new team rider ........

but I think I have done my dash huh....



I believe they're in negotiations with Evil Panda.


I just got it hahaha

MikeyS
VIC, 1506 posts
19 Dec 2014 2:22PM
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Crikey. I can't wait until they start introducing bamboo into the construction of the Boeing 787 Dreamliners.

MarkSSC
QLD, 635 posts
19 Dec 2014 1:54PM
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Bamboo was used to make squash racquets about 50 years ago. Not any more! They were superseded by better timbers (Canadian ash), aluminium alloys, graphite and titanium composite materials. Light weight and strength being the prerequisites. Composite materials are just that...compounds of different materials when which used together provide much improved properties. wood can be a very effective composite material but not in the way they are trying to make you think. I have even heard about bamboo being used for underwear. I think that it's greatest advantage is price...it grows as easily as weeds in the right conditions. All the rest is probably spin, as the other Mark has already stated. By the way, when they use the word 'aerospace' it often means that they can charge you 10 times the price.

Dartboy
VIC, 172 posts
19 Dec 2014 3:33PM
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Is it only me but did anyone else pick up on the one word that stood out like dogs private parts .

" When we developed this product we were thinking about our more refined riders, those who are always in quest of the best and latest technologies and NOVELTIES on the market."

I would not be putting the word " Novelties " in any ad copy if I was trying to convince my more " refined " customers that my high end new product was worth their hard earned .

May have been better if they had wanted to influence the " Refined " customer and gone down the path of each mast utilizes the finest Cuban ( now in good relationships with the USA ) cigar tobacco infused with 100 year old Cognac and each mast comes wrapped in its own smoking jacket as endorsed by Hugh and the Bunnies at the playboy mansion. Now that would have been a winner .



Macroscien
QLD, 6806 posts
19 Dec 2014 4:17PM
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Select to expand quote
Mark _australia said..
Oh god I read further. It is 100% carbon yet contains titanium and bamboo. Apart from the fact the math is wrong, isn't carbon stronger for it's weight than titanium....? I dunno, where is IanK?

Then of course the top and bottoms being interchangeable and bought separately being such an innovation? Welcome to Ezzy RDM circa2003
duh.
BTW they are still unbreakable too at 91% and without using panda food, titanium wire and a lot of wankwords.








Should we try 100% bamboo masts now ? May works for some and will be 100% green product, and biodegradable too.

BTW. If somebody will be able to create indeed 100% carbon tube , without any resin - just pure carbon atoms bonded together to create our masts that will be truly revolutionary achievement.

Surfinfreak
QLD, 289 posts
19 Dec 2014 4:46PM
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Select to expand quote
Macroscien said...
Mark _australia said..
Oh god I read further. It is 100% carbon yet contains titanium and bamboo. Apart from the fact the math is wrong, isn't carbon stronger for it's weight than titanium....? I dunno, where is IanK?

Then of course the top and bottoms being interchangeable and bought separately being such an innovation? Welcome to Ezzy RDM circa2003
duh.
BTW they are still unbreakable too at 91% and without using panda food, titanium wire and a lot of wankwords.








Should we try 100% bamboo masts now ? May works for some and will be 100% green product, and biodegradable too.

BTW. If somebody will be able to create indeed 100% carbon tube , without any resin - just pure carbon atoms bonded together to create our masts that will be truly revolutionary achievement.


Like melted together?

boardboy
QLD, 554 posts
19 Dec 2014 6:04PM
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haters gonna hate.


I say good on em. Its pretty clear what the product is and I dont think they are trying to fool anyone.
I like to support innovation and variety, not just beat it down with negativity.

Mark _australia
WA, 22392 posts
19 Dec 2014 5:38PM
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I simply suggest the try hard marketing does the innovation a disservice.




da vecta
QLD, 2512 posts
19 Dec 2014 9:18PM
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The answer will reveal itself in the fullness of time.

joe windsurf
1480 posts
19 Dec 2014 9:31PM
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"wake up" time is empty

in keeping with the current thread



Paul Kelf
WA, 678 posts
20 Dec 2014 10:50AM
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Select to expand quote
col5555 said..
Interesting use of material.

www.powerexmasts.com/products/details.php?product=12


Hey Col, I think it's time you left Asia and came home, you are getting obsessed with rice & bamboo

NotWal
QLD, 7428 posts
20 Dec 2014 2:13PM
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Select to expand quote
Mark _australia said..
I simply suggest the try hard marketing does the innovation a disservice.





Couldn't agree more. That copy reads like a fashion statement. If they had a genuine structural innovation it would be in their interest to spell it out, but they don't.

jp747
1553 posts
23 Dec 2014 5:43AM
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from bamboo to Hugh .. it's still rigid stuff



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"Powerex bamboo masts" started by col5555