The following is what I've managed to piece together after pursuing a warranty for a mast that broke 50m into it's life (and put a hole in my sail). I have managed to get a 50% refund for that mast, but remain concerned about another mast I have from the same batch.

Unifibre had sample masts produced by Dodge Carbon (dodge-carbon.com.tw) a few years back. They did not meet Unifibre's standards. Subsequently some cheap brand new Unifibre masts have appeared on ebay in Ausralia, however these do not have serial numbers and Unifibre suggested that they might be from a 'lost' shipment related to the sample masts produced by Dodge.

There are several other accounts of Dodge manufactured SDM masts (branded Billows) breaking within 50m of their life here on Seabreeze. Similar experience to me -- I have two masts, one broke, the other is still going 200km later.

I purchased one of these unifibre masts, when I recieved it I noticed it didnt have any labels/serial numbers on it which wasn't right sent it back and got a refund.

Sounds like a wise move! The masts I purchased had Unifibre labels on them and looked the part. Only found out later that they're supposed to have serial numbers on them too.

Funny that......I sail with a 100% carbon billows 490 RDM and billows carbon boom on my 8 and 9m sails my main sails being 135kg I tend to be sailing a meter or 2 bigger than everyone else so I put a lot of stress on the mast and boom and they have not broken.
There was a problem with billows SDM's from a left over batch breaking but then I hear on seabreeze a lot of Neil Pryde masts have been breaking too. And have seen most brands gear break .
I am also amused as dodge mostly produces masts and booms for others and just sticks there markings on them and have been doing it for many years they are not an overnight windsurfing manufacturer as you suggest. I have a bit of a laugh when I see dodge products rebadged and sold as other major brands product or a windsurfing shops product.
Very little windsurfing product is actually made by the brand promoting it. They tend to outsource manufacturer just look at how many board brands are made at the cobra factory or how many different sail brands come out of the Gasstra factory in china.
In addition there whole sale pricing is very similar to other mast and boom brands I have the whole sale price lists which then brings into question the mark-up that is being put on some products. Although those prices do not include shipping and other costs involved in selling the masts.
It is wrong for masts to be sold as something they are not but a mast stamped with billows is not hiding where it has come from

Apologies if I've got the wrong information about Dodge, it's pretty tricky trying to sort through the info on the net and I've just tried to piece together what I could. I will edit the original post. How have you found the reliability of Dodge's low carbon (<40%) SDM masts legless? I think the breakage issues would probably be less with RDMs.

My concern was mainly about incorrectly badged Unifibre masts with known quality issues. However the breakage adds to the anecdotal information on seabreeze about masts coming from Dodge.

How many other brands suffer from frequent SDM mast breakages on first use? (Not a rhetorical question -- I have absolutely no idea what the answer is).

Out of curiosity does anyone know who else Dodge officially produces masts for? They don't list it as one of their main products on their website, just on alibaba.com.

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xarvia said...

Apologies if I've got the wrong information about Dodge, it's pretty tricky trying to sort through the info on the net and I've just tried to piece together what I could. I will edit the original post. How have you found the reliability of Dodge's low carbon (<40%) SDM masts legless? I think the breakage issues would probably be less with RDMs.

My concern was mainly about incorrectly badged Unifibre masts with known quality issues. However the breakage adds to the anecdotal information on seabreeze about masts coming from Dodge.

How many other brands suffer from frequent SDM mast breakages on first use? (Not a rhetorical question -- I have absolutely no idea what the answer is).

Out of curiosity does anyone know who else Dodge officially produces masts for? They don't list it as one of their main products on their website, just on alibaba.com.

No worries.....I have not dealt with the billows SDM mast as there seems to be a move away from SDM and onto RDM. As with all brands the lower the carbon content the more durable the mast will be but it will be heavier and not respond as quickly as a higher carbon content mast.

It is wrong for anyone to sell something that it is not I know nothing about the unifibre mast your mentioning it was the first i heard of it.

I think they don't list who they make masts for just as board companies do not list on there website that the board is made in the cobra factory or sails companies listing that there sail was made in the gasstra factory they like to keep up the ilusion that there product is unique.

As for mast breaking first time is is quite common. as it is most likely the first time the mast has been put under that amount of load.

This was an earlier thread re: billows masts www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/General/I-got-an-email/?SearchTerms=billows

I've been using a billows 75% 430 RDM all summer (not that this summer has been epic )

Being a 100kg uncoordinated clown I fall off a lot, and generally put a fair amount of strain on my gear including a few washing machine moments out at Lano mainbreak.

So far I have zero complaints about the mast.

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legless said...

Neil Pryde masts have been breaking too.

Neil Pryde masts don't break, they just get used in the wrong conditions when they are too old... over 20 knots after 18 months.

Sounds like it might have been a bad batch then (if indeed my Unifibre masts came from Dodge). Hopefully my remaining mast doesn't let me down in the middle of nowhere!

Sounds like the RDM masts really are the way to go for reliability. Has anyone tried rigging Koncepts on an RDM?

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xarvia said...

Sounds like it might have been a bad batch then (if indeed my Unifibre masts came from Dodge). Hopefully my remaining mast doesn't let me down in the middle of nowhere!

Sounds like the RDM masts really are the way to go for reliability. Has anyone tried rigging Koncepts on an RDM?

Klaas I rig all my Koncepts(5.0, 5.8 and 6.6) on RDM masts, you need to get RDM cams though. Depending on the age of the Koncept that you have you may be better off rigging it on an SDM mast for optimal performance but i'm sure it will still be fine. I used to rig a 2008 koncept on an RDM and it worked well. The newer Koncepts(i think from 2010 onwards) rig well on RDM masts as they were designed to rig on either.

i've had no issues with any unifibre gear.

mine came from unfibre via australian distributor though.

All of SDM 430 460 490 failed.
Then two months later 460 arrived.
After having complained. .
I am going to test it this month.@but must find old sail
This winter is too cold.

I was setting up Koncept6.6 with Dodge RDM460.
It was too soft. I conld not go over 400m..
because dangerous if broken again. ahaha

b14

all my billows rdms have not been a problem. the one that did break in the surf was factory replaced. basically cant fault them.
back to back tested them against some 'big brands' and they sailed/rigged sometimes better!

all my billows rdms have not been a problem. the one that did break in the surf was factory replaced. basically cant fault them.
back to back tested them against some 'big brands' and they sailed/rigged sometimes better!

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geared4knots said...

all my billows rdms have not been a problem. the one that did break in the surf was factory replaced. basically cant fault them.
back to back tested them against some 'big brands' and they sailed/rigged sometimes better!

Second that