Carp landing poles as tiller extensions

arent they the carbon landing net handle and there are some nice ones on ebay for under £20  http://search.ebay.co.uk/carbon-landing-net-handle_W0QQsofoc usZbsQQsbrftogZ1QQfromZR10QQsacatZ-1QQcatrefZC6QQsargnZ-1QQs aslcZ3QQsadisZ200QQfposZPostcodeQQga10244Z10425QQftrtZ1QQftr vZ1QQfsopZ1QQfsooZ1

"Carp Thief" is my personal fave...

I have twin tillers so use one bamboo cane for each extention.
To fit it to the UJ I cut a 4 inch long peice of garden hose which I warmed in a cup of hot water to make it soft it then slip the bamboo in one end and the UJ in the other when the hose cooled down it contracted made a tight joint. I pulled as hard as I could but could not get them apart.
To get the best joint you should use a peice of cane that is just too big to go into the hose when it is cold. and to be on the safe side I put a self tapper into the bamboo and the UJ

The poles themselves have a bit of give in them but that is good as it means they will take more abuse before breaking, they are very light and the segments provide grip every 10 cm along the length.

I had a bit of a problem with one of them because there was a slight gap between the end of the bamboo and the uk and the hose itself started bending when I was right at the back of the boat downwind with a bit of lee helm. I did a temporary fix by taping a peice of sail batten across the hose to UJ joint. This worked well but in the long term I may put a couple of layers of glass over it.

The bamboo may not look quite as fancy as the black carp rods but they are able to take more abuse and are cheaper without being much heavier so are great for learning.