Drennan Acolyte PLUS 15 spare tips

[Synthhero]

Does anybody know how much a new spare upper section for Drennan Acolyte PLUS 15 costs?

 

[trotter2]

About 70 mate.

 

[Synthhero]

Do you know any stores that have them in stock or I have they order one from the factory?

 

[chevin4]

I dont think any tackle shops would stock the top section. However your tackle shop should be able to order the spare for you. Failing that you can always contact Drennan International direct as I have in the past and found them very helpful.

 

[Rod & Annette]

Try Bailey's of Warwick. They have Acolytes on the shelf that they remove sections from then reorder from Drennan.

 

[Synthhero]

Ι have bought it a month ago from Billy Clarke. I hope they replace it for free because i really didn't push the rod, it broke from the second catch (2lbs bush breaks full loose) used for first time. It was definitely a factory error. The thing is that I'm an international buyer.
Do you have any clues about international warranty?
I emailed them but they won't answer before 4 of January due to Christmas holidays.

 

[Aknib]

Hmmm...

Yet another Snapolyte by the sounds of things, I hope you get it sorted but this kind of report, along with many similar others both on media and face to face, don't really do Drennan much good on the reputational front.

It wouldn't be so bad if Drennan themselves acknowledged an issue but I've seen no acknowledgement despite the many occurrences of breakages.

Have you considered contacting Drennan with a view to a warranty issue, citing the many other instances of Acolyte breakages that seem to get reported?

There are those that will swear, based upon their own seemingly fortunate experience, that no issues exist and that's fine and dandy for them but for those who have been affected it's probably not as easy to dismiss.

I certainly wouldn't touch one with a barge pole, I want to know I'm spending my hard earned on a safe bet and not feel like I'm taking on a lottery based on whether or not I get a pucker one.

Purely my own opinion but if this breakage has resulted from some manufacturing imperfection then this is Drennan's bad and they should put it right or suffer the reputational damage they deserve for not doing so.

It's bad enough these things happen in the first place and an undesirable hassle for the buyer to have to sort out, that's after the inconvenience it causes when it fails during use, if the manufacturer turns the other cheek it's even worse.

 

[tigger]

Hmmm...

Yet another Snapolyte by the sounds of things, I hope you get it sorted but this kind of report, along with many similar others both on media and face to face, don't really do Drennan much good on the reputational front.

It wouldn't be so bad if Drennan themselves acknowledged an issue but I've seen no acknowledgement despite the many occurrences of breakages.

Have you considered contacting Drennan with a view to a warranty issue, citing the many other instances of Acolyte breakages that seem to get reported?

There are those that will swear, based upon their own seemingly fortunate experience, that no issues exist and that's fine and dandy for them but for those who have been affected it's probably not as easy to dismiss.

I certainly wouldn't touch one with a barge pole, I want to know I'm spending my hard earned on a safe bet and not feel like I'm taking on a lottery based on whether or not I get a pucker one.

Purely my own opinion but if this breakage has resulted from some manufacturing imperfection then this is Drennan's bad and they should put it right or suffer the reputational damage they deserve for not doing so.

It's bad enough these things happen in the first place and an undesirable hassle for the buyer to have to sort out, that's after the inconvenience it causes when it fails during use, if the manufacturer turns the other cheek it's even worse.

Ste I know quite a number of people who have acolytes and none of them, nor myself has had one snap. I think I have tested them beyond what most would expect them capable of, and they have been fantastic!

I also have some high end daiwa rods, the Dave Harrell RS PF float rods which are claimed to never break. I had been usiing my 14 footer for well over a year and had caught lots of fish with it and it had been bent to alarming curves on numerous occassions and was fine. Anyhow, a couple of months back I was casting out a 6 grame bolo and the tip section just crumbled, it broken in multiple places!
I have no doubt there will be others that have broken also but people don't sound off about them as they do with the acolytes.
When I spoke to daiwa they did tell me I could send them the section to let their engineers check it out to see if it was a fault of some kind.
I was quite positive they would say it was my doing so didn't bother wasting my time and bit the bullet which cost me 95 ripps for a new tip section.....shyte happens!

I can honestly say that I wouldn't hesitate recommending the acolyte rods to anyone, imo, they are one of the best float rods ever made.

 

[rob48]

Old habits, as the saying goes.

 

[Molehill]

Luckily I won the lottery with my acolyte purchase (15ft), I have abused the poor thing way beyond what it should stand for, 3 seasons now but if it breaks I only have me to blame.

 

[Aknib]

Ste I know quite a number of people who have acolytes and none of them, nor myself has had one snap. I think I have tested them beyond what most would expect them capable of, and they have been fantastic!

I also have some high end daiwa rods, the Dave Harrell RS PF float rods which are claimed to never break. I had been usiing my 14 footer for well over a year and had caught lots of fish with it and it had been bent to alarming curves on numerous occassions and was fine. Anyhow, a couple of months back I was casting out a 6 grame bolo and the tip section just crumbled, it broken in multiple places!
I have no doubt there will be others that have broken also but people don't sound off about them as they do with the acolytes.
When I spoke to daiwa they did tell me I could send them the section to let their engineers check it out to see if it was a fault of some kind.
I was quite positive they would say it was my doing so didn't bother wasting my time and bit the bullet which cost me 95 ripps for a new tip section.....shyte happens!

I can honestly say that I wouldn't hesitate recommending the acolyte rods to anyone, imo, they are one of the best float rods ever made.

I'm pleased you have a good 'un Ian but like I've said it seems a bit of a lottery to me.

There are numerous reports here on FM of Acolyte breakages (I'm not going to search through and put a link to every one, we've had the dodgy Acolyte discussion enough times now for that to be pretty much undeniable) and two people I know have both had a 15' Acolyte fail on them.

One of those was a guy who reported it on here, his tip on a brand new and unused rod simply disintegrated when first taking it out of the bag and the other is a fellow club member who's tip did a similar thing the first time he tried to use it, shortly after rigging up.

Yes there will be other rods that have the odd faulty one but we don't see the numbers being reported that we do the Acolytes, in fact I'm hard pushed to think of one let alone a second incident of the same rod.

I can't understand why Acolyte owners would somehow be more prone to reporting their breakages whilst owners of other manufacturers' rods didn't, it makes no sense to me.

I'm sticking with my original theory on this, they're manufactured too close to the threshold in order to gain an edge and this in turn is resulting in the dodgy ones.

 

[tigger]

Ste, there's lots of rods around the acolytes weight, even lighter. For example the maver signature pro range, which are really nice rods also.
The acolytes have no laquer/varnish on the blanks other than the blobs covering the whipping on the guides and so that is a large weight discounted from the rods. The blanks are no slimmer than a number of other rods I have, including the tip section.
A chap I know has two maver signature pro rods, a 15 and a 16 footer and has broken both the top sections.
The browning sphere rods are very light and slim, so is my tri cast john allerton, which has the whole blank varnished and so it would be considerably lighter again without the varnish.
The acolytes are very popular and I think way more of them have been sold than any other float rods so your bound to get some breakages.

I can only go off my own experiences and for me, the accy rods have been as good as a float rod can be.

 

[Richox12]

(2lbs bush breaks full loose) - what does that mean ?

I think it's been blown out of proportion. Haven't heard or seen anything about breakages for a long, long time now. They must have been around for 7 years at least. So one person breaks a tip and it's all doom & gloom again. What about the thousands of others out there which haven't broken anything but obviously don't say anything ? You only ever hear 'bad' news.

 

[steve2]

The only thing I would say is that any rod no matter what make that can’t stand up to the abuse I give rods when fishing is not worth a place in my rod bag.
Hence the reason why none of mine are new thin walled models lightweight models. I don't think when comes to rods that newer is better for the way I fish.

 

[Aknib]

So one person breaks a tip and it's all doom & gloom again.

That's just the issue though isn't it...

It's not just one person in the whole context of things, it's one person after another after another and it all adds up to a problem imo.

I agree the reports of Acolyte breakages are not as numerous of late, could this possibly be an 'old stock pre-rectified problem' blank even though it was purchased recently?

It would help if Drennan weren't so silent on the issue, surely they must have something to say about it either in relation to an historical known issue or a general comment with regards to the reports of breakages, even if only to deny there is or ever was an issue?

 

[tigger]

Just for reference, I know Chris has a run down of the weights and specs of lots of float rods.
No doubt he could answer a lot of questions on the subject.

 

[Richox12]

That's just the issue though isn't it.......It's not just one person in the whole context of things, it's one person after another after another and it all adds up to a problem imo.

But it's not at all. It's just the OP here. Whatever happened (or people think happened) 6 or 7 years ago is not what is happening here and now.

Drennan haven't come out and 'said' anything probably because A) they've never been 'officially' asked and B) because statistically there isn't and never was a problem to the extent that people thought and some still seem to think.

I don't have any Acolyte rods but I know a lot who have and have several. Odd ones have broken them. But same have broken odd rods of other brands as well. These same anglers had Matchpro Ultra/Float before their Acolytes and some broke them. There wasn't and isn't anything said about breakages of Matchpro's though.

 

[davebhoy]

In my experience Drennan will tell you to go via the shop where you bought it or your local stockist.

I had the top problem with my 13’ acolyte plus. I read that it was a problem specific to that particular model and wasn’t affecting any other rods. They replaced mine no bother even though it was a while after I’d bought it - it snapped when I was tackling up.

 

[Aknib]

But it's not at all. It's just the OP here. Whatever happened (or people think happened) 6 or 7 years ago is not what is happening here and now.

Drennan haven't come out and 'said' anything probably because A) they've never been 'officially' asked and B) because statistically there isn't and never was a problem to the extent that people thought and some still seem to think.

I don't have any Acolyte rods but I know a lot who have and have several. Odd ones have broken them. But same have broken odd rods of other brands as well. These same anglers had Matchpro Ultra/Float before their Acolytes and some broke them. There wasn't and isn't anything said about breakages of Matchpro's though.

I think you missed the point when I said 'in the whole context of things', yes it's the one person here but it's numerous people in the whole context of things and once again it's another angler who doesn't think that they misused or mistreated the rod in any way... They can't all be lying.

You say whatever happened six or seven years ago is not happening now... Are you trying to say that the incident that the OP has reported never happened then?

The fact is it's yet another report of a broken Acolyte, based on numerous reports of similar it leads me to think there are disproportionately more incidents of broken Acolytes than there are any other rods on the market and the nature of some of the breakages, eg. when removing them from the bag for the first time, suggests to me that something's not right but if you know differently and would like to provide some source information I will be happy to consider it.

I'd bet a pound to the penny it won't be the last report of a broken Acolyte and of a nature which suggests it couldn't be quickly dismissed as misuse or mistreatment.

 

[GT56]

Its been a while, however still very disappointing to hear of another Acolyte tip brakeage but there's definitely a simple solution and I hope the OP is looked after.
I know nothing regarding the manufacturing process and hope it's just a one off and not a batch issue.