Issues with Rob Allen Plastic material

[John Marr]

Hello,
recently one of the flanges of my RA muzzle broke off while shooting.
This was a bit annoying but since I can still use the other side to guide the shooting line, the thing is still usable.
Today however, I lost a big African Pompano because a crucial plastic piece also broke: The little eyelet in the reel that holds the line end.
While the fish rapidly swam away reeling off the line I slowly moved towards my buoy to be prepared but instead of the suspected heavy yank on the gun I just felt a small pluck and saw the end of the line vanish into the abyss. Very annoying not only because of losing the fish but also because I lost a new shaft, shock absorber and of course the 50m dyneema.
So: aside from the lesson learned that I will never again use the eyelet to fasten the line but rather do a knot around the reel’s axis, I was wondering if something might be wrong with the material?
Isn’t RA talking especially about the strenght of the plastic? I always make sure to keep the gun out of the sunlight as well as rinsing it with fresh water after use.
Also: Does anyone know an email contact for RA, so I can ask them directly?
Thanks!1

 

[Mr. X]

Try http://roballen.co.za
The Dive Factory, Durban?

Rob Allen and Jeremy Williams care about their products. Their service is excellent in my experience. Contact them, I am sure they be interested to hear about this problem and likely replace the broken part.

 

[John Marr]

I guessed so. However there is no Email contact on the site, this is why I asked.
What is Dive Factory Durban? Their home base?

 

[sharkey]

I expect that you will get a reply from Rob Allen himself here & also most likely a personal message trying to find a solution. They back their products & that is why the brand enjoys the loyalty of hundreds of thousands of spearos around the world.

 

[John Marr]

And thats one of the reasons i like their stuff,.

 

[Mr. X]

The Dive Factory is I believe their company/ location/factory/ address.

Rob is a member of this forum, you could try contacting him through his member page:

https://forums.deeperblue.com/members/rob-allen.1539/

Add a public post or start a private conversation

 

[popgun pete]

Is this the muzzle that the bit busted off? They are glass reinforced nylon, but if the item received a whack they can crack only to be actually broken off some time later. The line wrapping lugs can catch on things and that is what snaps them during gun transport or being tossed into the boat. These muzzles are around 30 bucks, or 19 bucks on special.

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[John Marr]

Hello. As I have built my gun with parts to my needs, I am aware of the availability of spares. I take very good care of my equipment and do not toss it around.
When transporting, the gun i use packaging as to cushion any avoidable whacks.
As I wrote, the nozzle is not too much of an issue. But when the eyelet broke, it was a different story. This piece never experienced strain, since the spool never came to unwinding fully before. I usually managed to engage the break slowly and reel in.

 

[popgun pete]

I am not suggesting you tossed it around, but if you go on a boat trip other people handle your gear and guns can be damaged by accident, say when it is passed up by you to a deckhand before exiting the water and when in a hurry things can get dropped. As for the reel a knot holding the line in a hole in a spool will not be able to take a strong loading if you get spooled.

 

[John Marr]

I also don’t deal with deckhands and only let a few careful people handle my stuff...
As for the eyelet: I assumed that in the first place and should have trusted my feeling. However I followed the instructions.
Like I wrote: Will go back to tying a bowline around the spool axis.

 

[popgun pete]

That is the best way to do it if you are shooting fish that will put up a strong fight. However if you are shooting fish that can tear the gun from your hand a breakaway rig of some sort is advisable. Either a line on the gun or the shooting line tows a breakaway line and float. Reels have their limits.

 

[John Marr]

Well. i do fish for sustenance only so everything bigger then around the 10kg mark or the ones that are very strong i leave alone.
In the current case I let it take the line so i could deal with the slight current and go back to my buoy. Then I usually attach the gun to the buoy and deal with the rest.
In this case I also shot a bit to low, and so the fish was able to put up quite the run.

 

[popgun pete]

I once had a reel ripped clean off the gun, it was a home-made effort and a standard fishing reel drilled through the backing plate to be horizontal drum mounted, the reel being totally plastic and I made the big mistake of not also securing it by the axle to the stock. At least I kept the gun!

 

[Rob Allen]

Hi John Marr. Sorry I have been away and only saw this now. Please mail me on rob@roballen.co.za and I will see what I can do. Regarding the eyelet on the reel, this is just to stop the knot from rotating after you tie the line around the center of the spool, not a tie off point.

 

[John Marr]

Hello Rob, thanks for the reply. I guess common sense should have told me about the eyelets purpose, but I guess it had its day off.

 

[Rob Allen]

No worries

 

[John Marr]

This is just a quick message to let everyone know that Rob went out of his way to send me a replacement nozzle.
For me another reason to back up my belief to support and value small / medium owner run businesses over any kind of corporation, where customer service would have you smilingly driven to madness in a call center loop ...
I am sincerely humbled by this kind of commitment.

 

[Rob Allen]

You are welcome.