Swimversa/Craftversa

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Stef
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Swimversa/Craftversa

Post by Stef »

Hello all

I would like to know where is the difference between Milward's Swimversa and Craftversa?

Best regards
Stef

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MGs
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Re: Swimversa/Craftversa

Post by MGs »

Off the top of my head the Swimversa has a split cane butt and whole cane middle with a spliced in split cane section and a split cane tip, the Craftversa is all split cane.

I may of course be completely wrong
Last edited by MGs on Mon Jun 10, 2013 8:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Old car owners never die....they just rust away

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Lucky Strike
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Re: Swimversa/Craftversa

Post by Lucky Strike »

About £1,800. :Thumb:

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MGs
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Re: Swimversa/Craftversa

Post by MGs »

Here is the tread about Bumble's Craftversa replicaviewtopic.php?f=28&t=7509&hilit=craftversa
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Stef
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Re: Swimversa/Craftversa

Post by Stef »

Thanks for the infos :Hat:

So the Craftversa can be regarded as medium float rod? What about the Swimversa, is it lighter in action?

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Lucky Strike
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Re: Swimversa/Craftversa

Post by Lucky Strike »

Image

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Stef
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Re: Swimversa/Craftversa

Post by Stef »

Thank you LS!
Do you have something similar about the Swimversa?

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Nobby
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Re: Swimversa/Craftversa

Post by Nobby »

I guess the Craftversa will do pretty much anything....though big carp of today's size are a bit beyond it.

The Swimversa, however, has a tip action and is really a match rod. The sharply compound taper at the first rod ring on the tip section is like a hinge! It's a three piece rod so doesn't share the Craftversa's ability to get shut in car doors either.

It's worth noting that early Swimversas had a whole cane to whole cane splice in the middle section. The smaller piece of whole cane is reputed to take a set rather easily and later rods had a splice to built cane at this point.

At one time those early rods were unsaleable, but it seems to me that if they haven't taken a set by now, they probably aren't going to.

The Swimversa is also reputed to have been too expensive and to have contributed to Milward's downfall. I don't personally subscribe to this view having discovered that the Senior Featherlite and Featherlite rods were considerably more expensive to buy and there's plenty of those around.


Howver, there's no denying Swimversas are thin on the ground...perhaps the public were slow to buy into the attributes of the reverse-taper butt? Having owned a Swimversa I have to say it's true...theydo cast further when one employs a proper 'punch' cast, ....significantly so.

How such a butt might assist a fly rod ( there was a Flyversa too ) cast is hard to fathom.

The reverse taper butt was first offered on a spinning rod, the Spinversa, a rod initially built for the managment's sporting holiday trips and not for sale to the public. It was Milward's consultatnt Terry Thomas who designed the Swimversa using the reverse taper butt on his match rod design. Incidentally, he was the first chap to present a fishing programme on TV apparently, for Anglia, assisted by a very young Chris Tarrant.

Milwards obviously had faith in the idea though as they went to the trouble and expense of getting a European Patent on the reverse taper butt, as discovered by our own forum member Weyfarer some years ago. The application is the most tortuous and complicated bit of English text I have have read, what the European's made of it is anybody's guess..but they granted the patent!


Sadly, Milward's went under as a tackle manufacturer a few years later, which is why the Craftversa, the last to be designed in the reverse taper butt range, is so rare, it being made for just two years.


There were a few replica Cratversas made by Edward Barder......I wonder if he knew he was breaching a European patent? :Chuckle:


Milwards still exists as a company, American owned these days I think, making its original product...sewing needles, for which it was once World famous. The exploring angler Paul Boote once recieved nods of approval when some Indian ladies saw the Milwards logo on his tackle, he recounts.

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Bumble
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Re: Swimversa/Craftversa

Post by Bumble »

having waggled an original Craftversa and my new build by Andrew Davis I would have to say its is in my opinion it is must more than a medium float rod. It is without question the finest touch ledgering rod I have ever had the pleasure of picking up, I have taken Barbel to double figures and Tench to 8lb and the rod was only in second gear.
The taper is unbelivable and feel you get in the butt section is something to behold, yes I know I am biased, however I did not get the same feel with the Swimversa. I have seen a few and they all were all different, one was heavy, one was floppy and one felt lovely but I have a Sowerbutts Sprite which I consider a far superior rod. There is a Swimversa on fleebay at the moment with a very strange reel seat which to me looks completley wrong however I have questioned the seller before and I think its my problem not his as the feedback is first class.
In conclusion the Craftversa is simply unique like nothing else that has been or will be produced again unless you go through Andrew and actually does not deserve any label. The Swimversa in contrast is a good 12ft rod but there is better out there.

Steff dont take this as a rant or any thing against your comment but I have spent a long time researching both rods and this is simply my opinion I could easlily be proved wrong by people better qualified than me.
Bumble

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CraigM
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Re: Swimversa/Craftversa

Post by CraigM »

Hello chaps.

Am now the owner of a Swimversa.

Bumble - don't know if it's the one from eBay you mention [presume it must be] but the fittings are what I was expecting [having googled pre-buying] & it has the "correct" jasper whippings & "early" whole cane/whole cane mid-section splice.

12' 1" length. In good nick.

No idea how it will fish as only arrived today & needed a coat of varnish, which is now drying. The seller is sending me a history [on request] of his purchase\use.

Rather more expensive than a 2011 eBay sale but rather cheaper than a 2012 one.

I have a rather lovely 11' "roach" rod from Milwards [circa 1930 I'd guess - whole cane, whole cane, spliced tip to built cane], a 3 piece salmon rod with twin tips [circa 1920s] which is a heavy weight carp rod ] - both christened this season, so look forward to reporting on the latest acquisition's exploits.

Any other Swimversa owner/users on the forum please? Lucky Strike?

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