What makes Blackstick® different from the pre-preg woven carbon fiber shade poles is the toughness and flex the braid sleeve provides to the carbon pole. Braided sticks are very flexible compared to woven.  With more flex in the stick, the kinder it is at the base of the rod holder, along with self tension of the shade and no tag line is needed.

Another difference is the patent socket for the break-down point. The continuous carbon fiber braid throughout the taper section to the socket portion of the stick provides an indestructible break-down point that can handle the constant dynamic stress place on the stick while using the shade.

Other carbon fiber shade poles use tube clamps or glued ferrules for the break-down point. Tube clamps need to be maintained to prevent slippage of the poles and with glued ferrules de-lamination of the glue can occur due to the stress placed on the ferrules under a load.

The last thing is you can run with the stern shade from 20 to 30 knots and the bow shade trolling speed.
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Carbon fiber is unique in that it comes in different variations. This allows the manufacturer to engineer and build the carbon for a particular application.  Pre-preg woven is great for high stiffness applications such as robotics, telescoping poles and drone components.

What braid provides is high torsional strengths, crush resistance and greater inter-laminar shear properties to a product.  Braid applications are used in prosthetic, drive shafts, hockey sticks and wind turbine blades. With these tough properties and flex, braid carbon sleeving is the perfect fit for a rod holder shade pole….