That's great Larry! I can attest to the 8'0" 5pc. 5wt. model. I am fortunate to have previously tested out a "prototype" 5/6wt. 5pc. that Larry offered and it was fantastic! It very well could be one of the most versatile "all around" glass offerings I've handled. Very portable and capable of a wide spectrum of flies.

The best,
Colt

Damn ... that 8055 sounds really neat.

Update (three hours later) So neat that I ordered one which should see delivery spring 2014. Kenney quality is worth the wait.

I've gotten my butt on the Larry's waiting list for 2 rods, a 3 and a 5 and I'm waffling back a forth between the 835 and 8055. I guess I have months to make up my mind but has anyone cast the two side by side? If that 8' 5 piece proves popular I may have to make a decision sooner than later.

I have had the good fortune of owning an early experimental 8055 for a little over a year now.
I say experimental as it was made from a "mistake" blank. The boys over here at CTS used the incorrect lay-up for a couple of 813 blanks and they ended up a bit stiff for a 3 weight, so Larry cut and ferruled the blank, taped on some guides and hoping for a 5 piece 5 weight, ended up with a slow/medium 8' 5 piece 6 weight. Not exactly what he was after, the blank was banished to the furthest parts of the Earth and was delivered here to the bottom of NZ by a couple of Larry's good friends.
The blank arrived as Larry had left it, cut and ferruled- guide positions and spine marked and tip top fitted. It was up to me to finish the build, which was a bit intimidating, if your going to build a Kenney- you gotta do it right. I puddle around a bit with rod repairs and restoration, but never claimed to build to Larry's standard.

Last July while in Northern Ireland I used the rod near exclusively on the small streams there for wee wild brown trout and it worked wonderfully with a short line and leader casting maybe 15-20' maximum. Over here it will handle bigger waters and 40-50' just as easily and even I can just about "paint" a dry fly pretty much where intended. I have not spent time with Larry's other offerings to be able to compare, but he and a few of his friends cast it when I visited their club in San Francisco on the way home from Ireland and it got the nod of approval.
To me, it is slow/ medium #6 weight, but this is a one (or two ) off blank and should not sway anyone's opinion on the new offering which is a specific design blank for a 5 piece 5 weight. Has great sensitivity and you can fish wet without an indicator and feel every bump and tremor, or fish dry at night and feel subtle sup's. Very little tip "bounce" is evident and the rod recovers very quickly.

You can tell there is another ferrule out there near the tip, but as I said I have not had the experience with his other offerings to know if it is pronounced or that much different, to me it does not detract from the rods performance and when offset against the versatility of the configuration for ease of packing and transport on aeroplanes- it is not even a factor!

For anyone looking for a backpacking or carry-on travel rod, you would be hard pressed to look past a 8055.







Larry feel free to jump in and correct anything I may have got wrong in the explanation.

Spalted NZ Beech, a piece picked up from a river beach that Larry has fished whilst here, which was chosen before I got Larry to send over the uplocking hardware, but they do compliment each other well.
These are "do all" rods, this one "may" be better suited to wet fly fishing but does present a dry very well for me and is equally at home with a short length of line or a hauling cast.









This rod will differ somewhat in build than Larry's ones, the grip is slightly longer and fuller, agatine stripper, beech versus cork or more stable Walnut timber seat insert, different wrap style and thread. However as explained- whilst my rod is a Kenney blank 5 piece- it is a different beast to the new 8055 and just goes to show the thought and planning that goes into Kenney rods in that he will not let upon the masses rods which do not do exactly what he is looking for them to do and if this was a "mistake" blank then the specific design ones are going to be really special!