VS Owner Poll: Now I'm Really Grumpy. Van Zebcos????!!!!

[fishweewee]

I'm sorry I have to say I'm a little disappointed that Van Staal will be acquired by Zebco/Quantum.

It's not just the brand dilution...I'm really concerned that overall quality will deterioriate and that this will be just the beginning of another VS death spiral.

What will you do?

[Mike P]

I'm gonna hang onto my two Koelwyn Van Staals.

If you think I'm gonna trust Quantum with servicing them, think again. Replace a good machined stainless main gear with a machined in China substitute? No thanks.

[NIB]

I'm gonna do the same thing Ive been doin .just keep on fishin my 706's.I just don't get it.U guys must like gettin beat over the head on a regular basis.

[Mike P]

Bob D has a recent press release from Jeff Pontius, the President of the Zebco division of the parent company. I read it a couple of times to make sure I got it all right. It seems that after a transition period the reels will be built and serviced at a Zebco facility in Tulsa, which is where the company headquarters has long been situated.

[Buzz-erd]

Hmmm...........Can VS owners say "D'OH!".Like Nelson on the Simpsons says "HA-HA".
Unfortunately if you wish to maintain that warranty
you HAVE TO send it in for service once a year and if you have one of there $90 maint. kits it doesn't matter you still gotta send it in.Don't mess up the self service or they'll charge for that annual warranty maintaining service.
Thanks,but no thanks.I'll stick with my granpappy's Penn 704.
Penns may not be as slick as a VS but they've been around oh so much longer and have nothing to prove.
Like I said in Weewees' original VS thread:VS=waste of $$$.

PS.I still got the right to say you wasted you're $.Remember,its the US of A?

[bassmaster]

Im sure the gears will be made just like the ones from penn
over there
seems they aint makin them z no more or most of them??
I can get my vs apart faster than a z anyway
same damn reel only has seals and a screw on cover
and better line roller and drag and looks and weight and line capacity.
if i never went to fire line i would still be using my ss and ahab reels

[fishweewee]

Yeah bubba, Fin-Nor Ahab 12 and 16. Packed with grease. Heavy, but they work and the drags are awesome.

[bassmaster]

I bet vs reels get made from over seas scrap.
maybe that groutch Buzzerd is right
btw we could use him in the grumpy old pharts forum

[fishweewee]

Ewwwww...look what Buzz-erd stepped in!

[bassmaster]

hey whats striper smurf in bed with VS???
wonder when I will get the boot from there.
I cant post in whats his face?
guess he is behind the times
any one know where fultons market is

[Mike P]

Can you de-bail an Ahab 20? And does it lay line well enough to use Power Pro without it tangling? It has stainless gears, right?

I'll tell ya what--I know from jigging 2 nights with a Nauteel 7500 that I could torch the brass gears in half a season jigging the Canal. I cranked the drag down tight enough so a 15# couldn't pull drag, and I got some gear chatter from hauling in fish a lot smaller than that when they got in a rip.

Z's have better bronze gears, but I know a few guys who bent shafts horsing fish with 30# Fireline. Cheap fix but how much longer will Penn keep making the parts?

[bassmaster]

Mike ,who knows?
tell You what though Im bummed at the zebco thing, only doe
and they make junk. so I guess vs will hit the crapper.
You know they gonna make parts out of old cars

[BigBo]

Mike P, the Ahab 20 handles Power Pro just fine. Haven't thought about debailing it though. hmmmm

[fishweewee]

Mike,

I don't remember the Ahab being especially braid-friendly. An improvement would be to give it a cross oscillational line winding capability.

And, of course, get rid of the bail.

-WW

[bassmaster]

Your not gonna Be bm friendly, you are so lucky I lost My pics You

[fishweewee]

Go clean your Zebco.

[mrmacey]

just in time for race point!! fellas! stradic 6000 the best just wash it!!

[bassmaster]

i have pics here with a 4'10" rod landing bonito
vanzebko

[tlapinski]

interesting......

An open letter to Van Staal owners

The news is now going out that somebody is buying Van Staal, which is good. But the buyer is somebody unexpected, namely Zebco. Now before you go hog wild speculating about what this marriage might create, let me tell you a little about who Zebco is today and why they’d be interested in Van Staal. As President of Zebco, I know the real story.

First you have to know that Zebco today is a very different company than in the past.
A couple years back Zebco was sold by Brunswick, which had owned it for 40 years. The sale provided the catalyst for change and a new management team took the helm setting course for a more diverse and advanced Zebco. Yes, we are still selling lots of beginner reels and combos. But we are also developing and selling new reels that you probably wouldn’t expect from Zebco.

Over the past few years we have been steadily developing and introducing more high performance reels under the Quantum brand name. Originally these were all freshwater reels, but this past July we introduced a saltwater line that will be at retail in Spring 2004. It’s light inshore boat gear. It’s designed for action. And it’s definitely not your typical Zebco reel.

Reaching this point has meant dramatically upgrading our engineering and R&D capabilities, and we have. We brought in a new guy to run Product Development with an aerospace background who started his career working on F-18 engines for General Electric. Over the last few years he’s built up his team and we’ve invested in the technical infrastructure (CAD systems, model shops, test labs, etc) necessary to design and build world-class reels.

So what will we do with VS? First, we won’t screw it up. (We have no plans to change or cheapen or cut corners on any VS product.) Second, we’ll stand behind the product. And third we’ll provide a stable, well-funded home for Van Staal in an established fishing company.

Short term we’ll be working with Reel Ventures to build and service product at their Hopedale facility. Then we will begin to transition the operation to our facility in Tulsa, which happens to be home to a lot of aircraft/aerospace business and the kind of precision machining these products require. Here in Tulsa we will be setting up a separate business unit to focus on Van Staal and nothing else.

Transitioning will take some time and your ongoing patience is appreciated. But make no mistake, the future of Van Staal is very, very bright. We are excited to include this legendary line of products in our family and we are committed to giving the Van Staal brand the kind of home it needs to flourish and grow. Truth be told, we’re also pretty stoked about heading east to fish these reels in the waters and among the anglers that made them famous.



Jeff Pontius

[likwid]

Fin-Nor is still the king to me baby.

All hail Fin-Nor

I should own stock in those bastards....

[bassmaster]

zebco=junk

[bassmaster]

ben take the pic down Ya blinding me
ya think #24 will like this?

[fishweewee]

What did you do to the rotor? Spray paint blue?

Looks nice, you drilled an awful lot of holes tho.

-WW

[Karl F]

Van Penn, I like it.

[bassmaster]

yeah well i dont care I really need a lefty and a 706 spool
but I stuvk that in the sand next to the man cave and washed it and it works good.
i woulda rather seen shimano buy vs rather than zebco
gawd i hate there crap.
its killin me

[fishweewee]

I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Sounds like (from Toby's post) that the Zebco management team is trying to take the company into a new strategic direction.

Heck, they made bombs before fishing stuff - Zero Hour Bomb Company

Let's wait and see what they crank out.

-WW

[bassmaster]

Ben take the pic down b4 i blow a blood vessle u geek

[fishweewee]

I'll take it down once JR lets me back into the Grumpy Old Pharts Forum.

[Karl F]

Wee Wee, that is the most disturbing image, don't go to Wood End with a guide "drag"ed out like that! yikes!!!

[fishweewee]

Huh huh huh huh huh huh...he said "WOOD."