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I "built" my own support rod for the tail during winter. I bought some small lengths of 1" plumbing pipe (metal) and some PVC joints (double-female joints) of the same size. I have two or three short lengths to screw into the bottom for when I'm parked on non-level ground so that everything touches the ground. I added a PVC piece at the top which allows it to go through the tail tiedown loop where I slip in a connector pin so that it won't come loose. The whole thing is pretty sturdy, but still only about 5 or 6 lbs. I keep it in a little bag in the baggage area and just screw the parts together (about three all told) with the appropriate length short piece at the bottom, and leave it when the aircraft is parked. So let it snow.
Took a little bit of horsing around, but a cheap fix. If you do get your airplane dumped in its tail, it can be expensive. The FBO did that when moving it two years ago without removing the snow from the horiz. stab, and it cost them a couple of grand to replace and repaint the damaged parts.
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