I´m building a light saltwater single hander on a 7wt Loop blank. I like the struble aluminium reel seats but they are hard to get in germany.
Now I found a dealer that offers the U15 and the U18. What are the differences and what are their advantages/disadvantages?
Thank for your help.
Stefan

You can go to their website. They should have all the info you need.

www.strublemfg.com

Stefan,
The U-15 is a smaller diameter reelseat with an inside diameter of .5 inches and comes with a fighting butt. The U-18 is .62 inches ID and you have to buy a fighting butt if you want one for an extra $20.

I know their website, but couldn´t find the U15.
Is the fighting butt of the U15 fixed to the reel seat or can I use the U15 also without the fighting butt?
Does anybody know about problems with reels that don't fit good to the strubles? I know the Loop reels have sometimes a problem to fit good to some reel seats.
Stefan

I used the Struble U15 on my 2 7wts and 1 8wt rod and simply love this seat.It's slightly slimer and lighter in profile and just looks great on 6-8wt rods,plus it comes with a fighting butt(though the ones I got came with the nicer looking,and more durable,rounded rubberized cork end instead of the flat regular cork end that you usually see in the U15 picture on most websites).The fighting butts on the U15's that I have used were not attached to the seat,they were either the glue on the blank style,or the type that you glue into the end of the seat.You could definitely use the seat without a fighting butt if you had a proper butt plug(though I much prefer the look and functionality of them with a small fighting butt).

I used the U18 on a 8wt I built for my Dad last year and it too is a very nice seat,but it is much larger in diameter and better suited to larger rods(8-10wt rods or so) and reels IMHO.The U18 doesn't come with a fighting butt and from what I can remember,the only Struble butt that fits it was quite expensive.What I did was have a glue on the blank Sage style EVA/cork fighting butt made,which looked great and cost less than 1/2 the price of the Struble butt.

The 2 seats are pretty similar in appearance but the U18 is larger in diameter and doesn't come with a fighting butt.Both are excellent seats but on a 7wt I would DEFINITELY go with the slimmer,lighter seat(U15).

Stefan,

The Struble U18 would likely be an over-kill for a seven wt. rod. I have one (U18) and I would only install it on a 10 wt. or higher. The U15 is ideally suited for a 7 wt., in my opionion. And with such a small fighting butt, you probably wouldn't notice it - so I don't think that you would need to worry about having a removable one. If you're concerned about the butt section being longer than the tip section of the finished rod for storage, consider removing a little bit of the butt section of the blank, but only from the butt end of the butt section.

Hope this helps.

Torin.