Looking for a height stick

A surveyors rod is what most pilots carry in my experience. They are great for setting and rechecking (every time you stop) the height pole. They absolutely suck for measuring anything but square boxes. I never get square boxes.

The last thing I measured was a fuselage with vertical brackets in the top center of the tube. With a proper height stick with a perpendicular arm it was a no brainer to measure.

 

I didn't read all of this but I made one out of old fiberglass tent poles I had laying around. Collapsible and easy to carry...

 

Picked up a surveyor pole from Home Depot,,think I spent about $60 for it added a piece of pvc to the top to create a arm for checking any thing across the top of the load,mines measures in in inches and feet's.