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Topic: Anyone have issues with the Railblaza star mount locking mechanism?  (Read 2901 times)

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the quadfather

  • Herring
  • **
  • Location: Seattle, WA. USA
  • Date Registered: Jul 2011
  • Posts: 47
So, I have been through just a TON of different products as I get my PA 14 setup.  It came to me with oodles of different accessories that I will never use.  I have been through various Scotty attachments, RAM attachments, and finally I came upon Railblaza's various rod holders, and camera booms, and the whole thing is built around attaching to their 'StarPort' base attachment.  (First off..  I REALLY thought that I loved this Railblaza stuff.)      To me the Starport is well enough... but the issue I am having is that all of their various extension arms,camera booms, etc.  These swiveling pieces have a locking mechanism on the them that is only a flimsy piece of plastic around the item, and when you slide it one direction it engages a flimsy locking piece, and reverse of that it unlocks.   Not talking about the locking mechanism on the Starport, that piece seems legit.

It is the plastic ring in the first picture, that is a grey color.

In my experience this little ring lock thing can slide from 'Locked' to 'Unlocked' with great ease!  This is the only thing that is stopping your $400.00 camera or rod holder from falling in the lake.

Has anyone else experienced what I'm talking about?   Maybe someone has a work-around to make it a little safer?   I tried to use a zip-tie to strengthen the locking ring, but it easily slides off.

It is kind of amazing to me that it feels like some of DIY camera booms that I've found on YouTube, honestly seem to be better made than the manufactured stuff from the well known companies.
« Last Edit: November 04, 2018, 05:19:01 PM by the quadfather »


tsquared

  • Lingcod
  • *****
  • Location: Victoria British Columbia
  • Date Registered: Aug 2009
  • Posts: 483
I had the same issue with Railblaza when I mounted one on one of my arms going out to the pontoon on my Adventure Island. I never have trusted it after the rod holder fell out of the extension piece when I was carrying the aka arms. I use a Scotty mount and holder which has never let me down. I assumed Railblaza would have fixed this problem by now(mine is several years old) but if you just bought yours, it looks like they haven’t. I’d love to hear if anyone has a workaround.
T2


the quadfather

  • Herring
  • **
  • Location: Seattle, WA. USA
  • Date Registered: Jul 2011
  • Posts: 47
tsquared,     Thanks for the reply back on this.  At least you verified that I am not alone in what I felt about the product.  I had read a workaround some where about using a small zip tie around that locking mechanism.  I did try that, and I had the perfect sized zip tie.  However, this does not really stay on, it slips off easily.   I am hopeful to try using a piece of fishing line tied tightly around the locking mechanism.  If a person used the right lb test line, you could really get it to cinch up on that lock.  I think this would work.  You would just have to hassle with cutting it anytime that you wanted to remove the item from the starport, etc.


ballardbrad

  • Salmon
  • ******
  • Kayak Fishing Washington
  • Location: Ballard, WA
  • Date Registered: Aug 2010
  • Posts: 626
tsquared,     Thanks for the reply back on this.  At least you verified that I am not alone in what I felt about the product.  I had read a workaround some where about using a small zip tie around that locking mechanism.  I did try that, and I had the perfect sized zip tie.  However, this does not really stay on, it slips off easily.   I am hopeful to try using a piece of fishing line tied tightly around the locking mechanism.  If a person used the right lb test line, you could really get it to cinch up on that lock.  I think this would work.  You would just have to hassle with cutting it anytime that you wanted to remove the item from the starport, etc.

Quad, not that you want to buy another camera boom but I started out with the Railblaza which is a good product.  I took Robert Field out a few years ago and it gave me the idea to have RAM Mounts make something similar. Our Tough-Pole has the same swivel feature as the Camera Boom 600. It can mount to a deck mount base like your Railblaza or can be track loaded. I get all my fish photos with this and it's one handed for getting the shot and out of the way.  Our Node base allows you to adjust tension on how the camera pole swings.  https://www.rammount.com/part/RAP-411-18-A-GOP1


the quadfather

  • Herring
  • **
  • Location: Seattle, WA. USA
  • Date Registered: Jul 2011
  • Posts: 47
tsquared,     Thanks for the reply back on this.  At least you verified that I am not alone in what I felt about the product.  I had read a workaround some where about using a small zip tie around that locking mechanism.  I did try that, and I had the perfect sized zip tie.  However, this does not really stay on, it slips off easily.   I am hopeful to try using a piece of fishing line tied tightly around the locking mechanism.  If a person used the right lb test line, you could really get it to cinch up on that lock.  I think this would work.  You would just have to hassle with cutting it anytime that you wanted to remove the item from the starport, etc.

Quad, not that you want to buy another camera boom but I started out with the Railblaza which is a good product.  I took Robert Field out a few years ago and it gave me the idea to have RAM Mounts make something similar. Our Tough-Pole has the same swivel feature as the Camera Boom 600. It can mount to a deck mount base like your Railblaza or can be track loaded. I get all my fish photos with this and it's one handed for getting the shot and out of the way.  Our Node base allows you to adjust tension on how the camera pole swings.  https://www.rammount.com/part/RAP-411-18-A-GOP1

BallardBrad,    Oh... you don’t even know the 1/2 of it.

I got all Railblaza’d up, multiple products.  Tossed packaging, etc.
Then after realizing what I was working with I AGAIN went more deeper into RAM. Found the Kayak product section of the RAM catalog. ** Nice lake Union cameo**  (I really thought I had been through every accessory manufacturer, my bad.)
I read about RAM tough-poles all night.

Now I’m about to re-do everything.   )-: 

Got some Railblaza booms for sale in my garage...


JamesM

  • Krill
  • *
  • Location: Castro Valley, CA
  • Date Registered: Apr 2018
  • Posts: 11
Thanks for the thread. Mine is doing the same thing. I kept thinking I forgot to lock it, but after it happened couple times I knew it wasn't me.


ballardbrad

  • Salmon
  • ******
  • Kayak Fishing Washington
  • Location: Ballard, WA
  • Date Registered: Aug 2010
  • Posts: 626
tsquared,     Thanks for the reply back on this.  At least you verified that I am not alone in what I felt about the product.  I had read a workaround some where about using a small zip tie around that locking mechanism.  I did try that, and I had the perfect sized zip tie.  However, this does not really stay on, it slips off easily.   I am hopeful to try using a piece of fishing line tied tightly around the locking mechanism.  If a person used the right lb test line, you could really get it to cinch up on that lock.  I think this would work.  You would just have to hassle with cutting it anytime that you wanted to remove the item from the starport, etc.

Quad, not that you want to buy another camera boom but I started out with the Railblaza which is a good product.  I took Robert Field out a few years ago and it gave me the idea to have RAM Mounts make something similar. Our Tough-Pole has the same swivel feature as the Camera Boom 600. It can mount to a deck mount base like your Railblaza or can be track loaded. I get all my fish photos with this and it's one handed for getting the shot and out of the way.  Our Node base allows you to adjust tension on how the camera pole swings.  https://www.rammount.com/part/RAP-411-18-A-GOP1

BallardBrad,    Oh... you don’t even know the 1/2 of it.

I got all Railblaza’d up, multiple products.  Tossed packaging, etc.
Then after realizing what I was working with I AGAIN went more deeper into RAM. Found the Kayak product section of the RAM catalog. ** Nice lake Union cameo**  (I really thought I had been through every accessory manufacturer, my bad.)
I read about RAM tough-poles all night.

Now I’m about to re-do everything.   )-: 

Got some Railblaza booms for sale in my garage...


Sorry for your troubles. I spent a good chunk of the day fixing my Hobies. It's great to have three but three times more issues.  A new BerleyPro Transducer cover installed that a sheared off floating the Williamson River.  New fish finder installed on the 2019 Outback.  Here's a good video my buddy Jordan shot of us Squid Fishing in area 10.  He was using the Tough-Pole


the quadfather

  • Herring
  • **
  • Location: Seattle, WA. USA
  • Date Registered: Jul 2011
  • Posts: 47
That tough-pole seems to have the perfect extension length and allows for depth of field, etc.  Yeah, I’m all over it.


ballardbrad

  • Salmon
  • ******
  • Kayak Fishing Washington
  • Location: Ballard, WA
  • Date Registered: Aug 2010
  • Posts: 626
They don't have them at Outdoor Emporium unfortunately but you can will call like before.   Come down Saturday if you're around.  Doing a presentation at 11am.