I needed a new (longer) tiller extension as I found when hiking that my existing stick was a bit short, causing me to tend to pull the rudder off centre especially when upwind pointing.
Rather than fork out upwards of £80 for a new carbon stick, I decided to make my own, which turned out much cheaper - about £20 - £30.
Here's the spec:
Carbon tapered - all up weight 200 grams
Carbo-Weave XT blank
Length 101cm
End weighted for positive grip feel
Compatible with 13mm UJs (most common)
Here's how I did it:
Purchase a 'Ron Thompson' Desperado Carp Fishing rod from Go Outdoors. These sell for about £31 but are on special promotion so I got it for £20. They may be on clearance so if you want one you will have to act fast. You only need the bottom section, so you'll be throwing away the top section and the rod bag. This will give you a nicely finished carbon tapered 'blank' with some pretty graphics thrown in.
Now for the butchery. Cut the bottom section to length (in my case 101cm) using a Junior hacksaw with a fine (metal cutting) blade. The inner diameter of the tubing at this point is about 14mm, so if you cut it much shorter you run the risk of not being able to fit the UJ into the end. Try and get a nice square cut. Now fit the UJ. I used a rope-cored one off my old extension, epoxy it in with Araldite or similar. For extra security, you could drill a pilot hole in the end of the tube and fix the UJ with a small stainless steel self tapping screw as well as glued. You don't want your extension coming adrift in the Nationals!. This is what I did. If you want to drill a pilot hole, a Dremel cordless drill is very useful to have.
Now you have to remove the fishing reel mounting (plastic). You don't have to do this but you will have to cut off the alloy reel mountings (otherwise it will be obvious you are using a fishing rod for a tiller and will get some strange looks). I went the 'whole hog' to remove the plastic reel seating. This is glued onto the carbon but is quite easy to remove. First cut through the alloy reel mountings with your hacksaw, not going too deep. Then remove them with a screwdriver tip and pointed pliers. You will need to do top and bottom ones. The knurled plastic screw will just slide down and off the handle so you may not need to cut this. Once the two alloy mounts are off, run a sharp Stanley knife down the length of the plastic down the 'groove'. Do this 3 or 4 times, then prise the plastic apart with a screwdriver blade. You will find the plastic will open up and snap off cleanly. You will be left with the remains of the epoxy adhesive on the tube. There is no easy way to remove this so it's best to cover it with black electrical tape, or you could buy one of those black foam grips and have an intermediate grip.
Finally you may want to cut off the alloy 'collars' as carefully as you can, using a hacksaw and screwdriver/pliers to prise them off.
Now you have a carbon stick with pretty graphics. I tested it yesterday in the racing and it feels pretty good compared to my old tiller extension (also carbon). I particularly liked the weighted grip (butt) end. If you don't like the alloy insert but prefer a nice round butt, you could put on some bike grips (BMX ones from Go Outdoors would work as they are the right size), but I prefer the minimalist look with the alloy end.
Pete 1068