Excalibur...straight shaft...tell me what you know

[Birdman1]

I tried the chest mount the other day and had to give up on it. The strap made my neck and shoulder hurt. I have a disc problem in my neck and I was afraid this would happen. Kellyco finally sent me the hip mount but I don't think I will like that either. So thought I would just ask about the straight shaft. Is it noticeably easier to swing in the water? How about on the dry sand, easier to swing there? This time next week I will be on my way to Florida and will probably just keep the stock shaft on it, but would like to hear your thoughts on the straight shaft.....Thanks

 

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[John (Ma)]

I have the straight shaft on mine and love it. With your medical condition, I do not want to say that is the cure all. The detector has some weight to it as it is, but I find the straight shaft less tiring and in the water it works well with slow sweeps as the is water resistance anyway. Hope this helps.

 

[erikk]

Get or make a straight shaft-it is the only way to go with the Excal and wading. You can get the tubing from Aircraft spruce, A bike end bar off the web or a bike shop and make a arm cup out of PVC or aluminum flat stock all for under $50.00

 

[Sandman]

Unlike Lost at Sea, I don't like the Straight Shaft. We're all different. What I didn't like about it was the extra weight it put on the arm instead of the weight on the neck strap. Everytime you needed to use the arm, you had to remove it from the cuff strap and then reinsert the arm back into the cuff loop. No big deal and I could have gotten used to it.

I got my straight shaft from Reilly's and had to modify the placement of the cuff more toward the handle so it wouldn't rub my forearm. I just didn't like the weight on my swinging arm and mount all my detectors around my neck. Unlike my profile pic which has my CZ20 hipmounted.

 

[erikk]

What I did to solve the chafing problem was to glue with GOOP a piece of a mouse pad to the cuff and then use 2 pieces of duct tape on my arm when I am not in a wet suit. Looks like hell but it sure works. I also put a T handle on my digger so I can dig with one hand and not have to remove my arm from the detector but different strokes for different folk's. Whatever works and you are comfortable with

 

[rayredditch]

I hip mount my control box (In water, chest mount would be better), and use a harness system (There are various types to try).
HH Ray

 

[-Jones-]

It really depends on the shape your body is in and personal perference. As long as my arms are fit, I will always swing the excal on a straight shaft. I would never put a harness around my neck or on my waist, A lot of times detected on the beach, I'm just in a skimpy pair of shorts. IMO, the excal is made for the water and much easy to detect waist deep with her submerged.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Get the straight shaft and then try it on the rod ar any other way you like. I use to use it on the back of Fla Straight shaft, but I tried using the hipmount hung around my neck and found that is what I prefer. I like having the controls under my chin, easy to adjust, and for me no problems with my neck.

 

[lowtones]

I use a straight shaft and love it. The only thing a straight shaft does i think is it puts the more bend on the wire of the head phones at the control. What i do is i put tape around the the top of the control to the wire so it don't put alot of bend on the wire where it comes out of the control box. It kinda looks like a small loop at the top of the control box.