Sorry folks, I had a family emergency I needed to deal with out of town over that past 1.5 days ...I'm back at the screen again.

Bill, unfortunately it is not repairable in its current form...there was some "creative" work done to make it look functional but the guy I am fixing it for couldn't get it to work properly...when I took it apart, all it was was a mass of masking tape and epoxy that really only made it removable, not extendable.

I'm not talking about a removable butt, (i.e. not like the American Tackle example), the system I'm trying to describe is a more complicated 5 inch piece of 7/16 inch aluminum bar with a 1 inch cork butt piece at one end. There are threads at the far end and another set of threads just ahead of the cork fighting butt piece. When fully screwed in all you see is the cork fighting butt. But if you want to extend it, you unthread the cork butt, extend the aluminum bar until it hits the second set of threads and then it tightens against an inner grommet that is fastened to the aluminum end. When not needed, the whole piece of aluminum and the grommet hides inside the reel seat. I recall one from a rod I repaired a year or so ago...the reel seat is sort of in two pieces...half fits over the blank and fits underneath the last three inches or so of the cork handle...the other half is the actual reel seat and is the part that the extendable butt hides in.

The one I did a year ago was for a 12 wt tarpon rod...maybe this is a tarpon thing...we don't get a lot of tarpon in Canada...maybe the tarpon guys out there can figure out what I am trying to describe.

If you can recommend any specific suppiers, I would appreciate it.

Thanks

John

How about some pictures.

Bill - willierods.com

I will try to get some photos this morning...unfortunately only camera phone but they should be good enough to get the idea.

The reel seat that I took off this latest rod is a conventional seat (but I didn't discover that until I had excavated it out of the old cork handle). That is one of the reasons the seat wasn't functioning properly.

John

Two photos are in the reel seats photo file....one disassembled and one "assembled".

As noted, the reel seat in the picture is not correct for this application but shows the full extension. The whole piece, except the cork butt piece hides in the reel seat.

What is missing is the extension to the front that provides the connection to the blank.

Cheers

John

John,
I saw what you are looking for in a recent switch-rod demonstration video. It is a telescoping fighting butt that transforms a one handed rod to a two handed rod. I also could not find a source. It is a current product. I thought the manufacturer of the rod had it built special.
Herb
Herb

Do you want to do this handle as - original - or make it better then original ??

Bill - willierods.com

Bill

The owner is not wedded to the original handle. I am mainly just looking for a similar extendable handle that will recreate the functionality. If I can find the components to do a replacement seat/extendable handle, I would prefer that. Better is always...better! So if there are alternatives that have the same effect but better results, I'm in. Any thoughts??

If I can't find the extendable handle parts, the owner has agreed to turn it into a regular reel seat without the extension.

John

Maybe some one here that does metal shaping can remake the same type of parts so you can keep it the way it is. Unless you can find a distributer ?? maybe start a post to look for some one .

Bill - willierods.com