Ok Boys, I Need Your Expertise Please

[NCGREG]

Well, I am a happy camper! I picked up my new Excal II today and walked out on a mega sanded in and mineralized beach with it for just a little while, just so as to get to know it a little.....Man.....I never knew a detector could hunt, and operate so smoothly. I think I'm fallin' head over heels in love, but....this mutha is one time bow heavy!....I have absolutely made up my mind, and I am going to build a straight shaft for it tomorrow. So now I need to ask you all a couple of build questions..so here goes.

I have an 8' stick of aluminum round stock 7/8" OD x 3/4 ID it looks to be the same stuff as the store bought straight shafts are made of except it isn't powder coated (that doesn't matter to me).

When I start to build this shaft, should I mount the control box and battery pack at the rear first, before I cut any length off of the 8' stick? And then mount the arm cuff and handle as I work down the shaft? And lastly, cut the excess off at the coil end?

Or ..... should I start mounting and drilling at the coil end of the shaft first, and move toward the rear... mounting the accessories and cut the excess off of the back end?

I am 6'-2" with long arms (gorilla like) .. and I feel like I should build this shaft to fit .. me .. for comfort .. and not go by the advertised lengths posted on the pre made mfgs sites.

I would be very dissapointed to cut this aluminum rod in haste and realize that I screwed up by not allowing myself 2 or 3 more inches at one end or the other. I've got the previous post that went into detail about doing this. (I think Can Slaw posted it) but I don't believe it actually said whether it was a good idea to start at the coil end and work to the rear or vise versa.

Thanks in advance for all of your input.

 

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[NCGREG]

I appreciate that Fletch. I'm sure the stock shaft has its place where it shines, probably in a diving situation where the deeper water would help suspend it. But man, it is one time a booger bear to deal with on shore. (for me anyway).

 

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[bigscoop]

Sweet! Great Job! Looks fantastic! Just one word of warning....."You really have to watch lazily slinging your scoop over your shoulder now, especially a larger bucket, always being conscious where the top of your detector is at." I've smacked my machine pretty hard with the large Stealth scoop a couple of times.

 

[NCGREG]

Sweet! Great Job! Looks fantastic! Just one word of warning....."You really have to watch lazily slinging your scoop over your shoulder now, especially a larger bucket, always being conscious where the top of your detector is at." I've smacked my machine pretty hard with the large Stealth scoop a couple of times.

Oh yeah, I have a bad habit of grabbing my old long handled RTG 7" scoop and slinging it over my shoulder like a baseball bat. Good point Scoop, and to tell the truth .. I hadn't even thought about the control box being mounted higher up, and therfore in the "strike zone" LOL! I will have to change my batting stance for sure.

Thanks again,

Greg