Maintenance on extendable net handles

[Cabintom]

I have 2 net handles which extend to about ~5m which I bought through Bioquip. The max. length and ability to rapidly shorten/extend is a must in the forests out here. These net handles have served me well for over half a decade, but now the locking mechanisms in some sections are more likely to slip than not.
Does anyone know if there is a way to "open up" the handles for maintenance?
Otherwise, anyone have recommendations on good quality ~5m extendable handles?

[Jshuey]

I have 2 net handles which extend to about ~5m which I bought through Bioquip. The max. length and ability to rapidly shorten/extend is a must in the forests out here. These net handles have served me well for over half a decade, but now the locking mechanisms in some sections are more likely to slip than not.
Does anyone know if there is a way to "open up" the handles for maintenance?
Otherwise, anyone have recommendations on good quality ~5m extendable handles?

HA! I am in the exact same boat! Two handles, neither of which very well.

Give me a few days, and I'll try and dissect one of mine to see how they may be improved. They are basically just friction locks, and it may be as simple as taking them apart, cleaning everything up, and putting it back together. It's that "taking them apart" thing that may be tricky. But I have access to pretty good tools and should be able to figure it out.

John

[Chuck]

The most common design uses an internal cam that as twisted there's a compression fit and voila it's tight.

Most are plastic; some use a plastic or metal screw as the inside cam actuator.

Plastic can abrade over time, thus losing the ability to cam / grip. If the screw is used and it's plastic, it can wear out; if it's metal it can wear away the outside cam.

But without knowing what's inside, it's hard to say what the problem is.

Some (few) can be separated by "unscrewing" and then align a key with a keyway cutout. This should be visible.

Otherwise, you probably have to remove the plastic handle at the end, and push the small tube out through the rear of the big tube. Note that sometimes the small tube is retained by a blind pin through the big tube, so if you're banging the heck out of it and it won't come out, look for a blind pin.

[Jshuey]

I tried... . This net handle is designed specifically not to come apart. Like Chuk said, I expected the handle to work like the old golf ball retrievers I used to use. These simply push out backwards section by section once you take the grip off.

On the BioQuip handle, the handle-grip end on the largest tube is machine crimped (narrowed) on purpose - exactly to keep the next extension from falling out. I suppose if you have access to a metal-cutting bandsaw, you could slice off a mm or two, and the rest of the sections would come out. But I'd bet these are narrowed as well. I'm not willing to try this quite yet!

I think that my next action will be to soak the entire handle in water for a day or two, and then "pump" it out to clean up the "guts" as much as possible. I have a lot of Belizean dust inside mine - and perhaps rinsing out the guts will magically make it work again. (?) Or not... .

I have no idea how long it will take to dry out - but you have access to some pretty intense sunlight I bet!

John

FYI - in my avatar, that's a golf ball retriever. They used to make some that had 6 or 7 extensions. Probably still do! I would buy the largest one I could find, and remove the two most flimsy sections. The catch is that these don't lock when they are not extended, so you have to drill a small hole through all the sections, and then use a spring-key through the hole to keep it from spinning when it's in "short" mode.

A friend used to use an extendible light-bulb changer. These can be super big and heavy (likely to screw up your elbow if you use it too much), or as short as you want. The beauty of this arrangement is that they have hand-tightened cams that let you lock it securely into any length you need. He could go 7 meters! But man, it was a heavy thing.

[Cabintom]

Thanks for the update John. I couldn't see a way to take it apart and thought I was missing something. Thanks for confirming.
Please give an update on how "washing it out" goes.
I'm wondering about drilling holes through the loose sections and using a sort of pin or bolt to hold them in place. My concern being that a bolt & nut is not something that can be quickly added/removed in the field.

I'm leaving for the field for a week. 2 loose nets is better than nothing for now.

[Jshuey]

I misspoke - it's a spring cotter pin that I use though the hole. But also a bent coat hanger wire does just as well.

It's pretty fast taking it out. Putting it back in takes some lining up of holes.... so a few seconds.

Tie a ribbon around what ever you use - otherwise it gets lost in the field pretty quickly.

j