Little by little

[Three se7ens]

First, thanks for the education on reef fishing!  Second, we had a blast!  Third, let's not underestimate my Herculean strength when jacked up on coffee and the adrenaline of that sudden hook set!  The handle bent near the sleeve and twisted at the knob hole.  But I have to say, I may have been using it beyond the normal specs!  Drags were locked down and the fish strong on the first few seconds of the fight.  But that is the only way you can keep them headed the right direction from what I witnessed. So, I'll find a solid handle for this one!  Thanks again to Dwight for the coaching and introductions to the crew!  We will be back!

Send me a PM, Ill be happy to swap out that handle for one of my other designs, which are stronger. 

Tom, these handles are 3" center to center.  I believe the original is 2 1/2"

[day0ne]

Alex,
The screws to mount the plates to the frame are 5-40 x 1/2" long.
The bridge screws are 6-40 x 3/4", and as mentioned they may need to be trimmed.
If you need hardware, drop me a line and I'll send some out to you.
Tom

Just a reminder. If you have a narrow YTS frame, you will need two 5-40 3/8" screws to go in the hole by the rod clamp studs. The 1/2" screws are too long.

[Cortez_Conversions]

Alex,
The screws to mount the plates to the frame are 5-40 x 1/2" long.
The bridge screws are 6-40 x 3/4", and as mentioned they may need to be trimmed.
If you need hardware, drop me a line and I'll send some out to you.
Tom

Just a reminder. If you have a narrow YTS frame, you will need two 5-40 3/8" screws to go in the hole by the rod clamp studs. The 1/2" screws are too long.

Good point.

[steelhead_killer]

Andy, in the spirit of deconstructing the handle failure, I'd like to ask you questions without any prejudice attached.

Broken handles happen with misplaced force. Like Dwight said, in the heat of battle this happens.

Even in all the excitement could you have cranked the reel with less inward force? Did you feel at all out of control while cranking?

I'm not an engineer but it seems to me a solid SS handle can be bent inward just about as easily as an SS handle with cutouts.

I have no evidence to support my thoughts.

This was one of my first thoughts... It is quite possible that in the excitement I was putting too much inward force on the handle. 

Steve