Ey Mike P, I don't agree w/ the folks that own VS that they won't lower the price what so ever. I don't like blue collar guys like myself losing jobs due to businesses closing because manufacturing was moved to China.
Sad part is people will continue to buy VS reels regardless of where they are made and the cost.
I didn't doubt people destroy a VS reel at all, MikeP. None of my inner circle of friends have busted one (most don't fish the Canal either).The side plate coming off is due to poor engineering - it should have been threaded the opposite direction so if it did ever loosen up you would end up tightening it up from just cranking on the handle.
Of course it confuses the service person working on it because people automatically think righty tighty and lefty loosey ..... LOL. The brainiac who came up with the non hex side plate deserves idiot award of the century - they did that to stop guys from self-servicing it essentially.
From a business stand point the only was VS was going to survive was for the production of it to go abroad otherwise they would have never taken on the endeaver IMHO. Would you rather pay a person $1/hr or $30/hr for the same job?
I had heard from a source that Van Staal use to get all of it's aluminum for free from some aerospace industry ( it was their scrap) and that eventually dried up when the person left.
So be sure now to advertise that your reel is USA made verses China & you can charge premium prices now..... LOL. Who wants to wager $$ that you WILL see this advertise on Ebay now and drive the prices up. Oh, America - ya gotta love the guy looking to make a buck on something. :P