Excalibur Accessories user input lets start with the rod asm first

[Jimbo1023]

My 1+ year's experience with Anderson's fiberglass rod is mixed good and bad; mostly bad. Light and strong, the upper glass shaft has held up in strong current, waves and surf. However, I've gone thru 3 metal arm cuffs, where the metal cuff cracks outside the weld joint. But the most frustrating is a floppy coil on that clunky lower shaft. The special lower rod end that mates with the fiberglass upper is larger in diameter, than the standard/metal Anderson and other rods. The Anderson lower rod comes with 2 thin friction washers, when bought the fiberglass upper and lower rod as a set. To stabilize the Excal 10" coil in ocean and surf current, takes a lot of friction!! Detecting 2 times a week, for 3-4 hours each time, is more than this lower rod design can take. Friction washers last 2-3 weeks before wearing thin, tearing, and just being along for the ride. Following the enclosed rod instructions, I contacted Anderson, but got no immediate response. After 2 weeks, I followed up with another email to Anderson, saying I'd like some guidance on how to extend the friction washer life/stabilize the detector coil. Eventually, I received an email saying to inspect the rod end for uniformity and he had shipped some additional friction washers free. After another 2 weeks went by and I had not received anything, In parallel with my first Anderson delay, I also called Kellyco, referenced the absence of timely response from the Anderson company and described the design issue of the Anderson fiberglass rod product. I ordered Minelab's bolt and teardrop friction washer packet for $25 and Kellyco included additional Anderson friction washers and a packet of Anderson spacer washers and received it in a few days. I inspected the Anderson lower rod end and found a groove in the molding of the rod end flat surface. This was a defect. l Eventually received two shipments of washers from Anderson, which was disappointing service. Being sent from Canada to Honolulu was very slow. Buying a "Cadillac" rod I thought should come with some "Cadillac" service..... NOT!! Kellyco responded much faster and replaced the defective lower rod with a new one, not Anderson!! On the 2nd lower rod, the rod end was molded flat and smooth. However, this did not solve the floppy coil problem. And, every time I have to replace the friction washers, I would go through aligning the nylon bolt thru a coil ear, a plastic spacer washer, a rubber friction washer, the rod end, a friction washer, a spacer washer and the opposite coil ear, while prying open the coil ears.....If you have strong hands, allow 30 - 45 minutes when you get good!! Using the thicker Minelab washers eliminated the need for spacer washers and simplified the change-outs. Offering some feedback on the lower rod to Anderson was not received well. The last response I received from Anderson rods was that a new lower rod design was coming out "soon". . . that was over a year ago. There was no personal follow up by Anderson to my observations, performance issues and improvement ideas since then. During the last 6 months, I've shoved many tear drop washers on that Anderson Rod end, but again with a small surface area on the rod end, they don't grip well or last more than 5-6 weeks. In closing I'd like to recommend that Anderson take some customer service lessons from Kellyco, and point out that my experience was limited to the Anderson Excal fiberglass rod product.