Frank, rods_by_plugger has an excellent knob guard as well as shafts, stands, hipmounts and other high quality parts. Check his web site or fleabay. I'm shopping the excaliburs trying to decide if I want new or used. With a well cared for used Excal i may be able to score one with a srtaight shaft and knob guard. I won't be "in" the water for months so I'm browsing. For wet / dry sand I picked up a mint Sov GT, it came with the 10" tornado and 5" excellerator. Even had the rubber boots on the toggle switches. The WOT coil I found one used at a great price while waiting on KyCo to deliver my back ordered 15x12" S.E.F. First time at the beach with it I was pleased with the stability, the 10" coil didn't cover as much area as I would like (didnt have the WOT then) but the depth of targets recovered was very good and I didn't dig all the iron I'm used to with my PI. It also easily went as deep as my CZ20 w/10" and no fussing with balancing out the wet sand. I'm thinking I may want to put the WOT on the Excal seeing I'll have 2 big coils.
If you are going to hit the beach during the winter it will be a great way to get familiar with the Excal.
Check out "rods" products - don't miss out! I hope we can get together at least on a beach since the ground is frozen (though some wooded areas don't freeze as fast). The 3/4 polar bear hunt is the day after I get back from Cancun. I plan on going and early to work the Sovereign before the comp hunt.
HH-Bruce