Old Daiwa Sealine long term project

Rothmar2 · January 15, 2015, 09:32:09 PM

As I mentioned in the 6/O thread, I had a Daiwa that I had acquired that was going to become a project, here it is

Does anyone know anything about these reels as far as production years go? Or had they ever owned and fished one? I noticed there was a mint condition one in original box on EBay a while back that the seller was asking $300 for. Not sure if these would be considered a collectors item.....

As you will see in the following pix, they share similarities with Penn's, but also have a few things that set them apart.

Here is the "bridge" assembly. It's actually all one big stainless plate with everything attached. I think this was done in a way as so the reel could be reversed to be configured for left hand wind as an option. You can see an extra dog post that is not utilized at this point. The plastic piece that the eccentric passes through is cracked in a couple of places and will need to be remade. The gear sleeve appears to be bronze, I think the pinion is stainless, main gear is steel. Ratio appears to be about 3:1, pretty slow.

Here is the drag stack. The fibre washers are about 2mm thick! Obviously there is some improvements to be made here. I will have to check to see if dawn has suitably sized metals I could purchase and I will probably cut the CF myself to suit. There is a fibre under the gear, which will be replaced with Delrin.

It appears as though this reel had been stored in a bucket of salt water at some stage. These pix have been taken after I had carefully free'd everything up. The end of the eccentric key for the free spool lever broke away, you can see it in this pic.

You can see a fair bit of pitting corrosion in the side plates, but I have a plan to fix and re-fair them.
All the post screws were seized, and a fair bit of time has been spent carefully working them free of the salt build up. Soaking in penetrene, hitting with hot air gun, dipping back into penetrene got most of them out. But a few were really stubborn, and the heads got mashed. Fortunately I can get replacements in stainless.

The left side has a plastic mount for the ratchet arrangement, also cracked. Currently held together by superglue. Will probably remake these plastic pieces from thick delrin sheet stock and mill the shapes.

I plan to make a stainless frame for this reel. I figure I can make it with a bit of welding fabrication, machining on the lathe, and some careful milling. I have someone with a mill who is interested in helping with this project.
Once again, this will be a very long term deal, but I could see potential in this reel, and I think I can make this into a brutal little winch in time.

Any suggestions appreciated.....except for scrapping it or shelving it. Already spent enough time opening it up to give up at this point.

Shark Hunter · January 15, 2015, 10:25:17 PM

And so it begins!

Rothmar2 · January 15, 2015, 10:34:10 PM

Indeed!

Porthos · January 16, 2015, 08:26:00 PM

This one?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DAIWA-SEALINE-300-FISHING-REEL-RARE-Made-in-Japan-NIB-/151536955109?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item23484e6ee5

Since it's coming out of Malaysia, klaxons are going off...

MarkT · January 17, 2015, 04:47:13 AM

I have faith that you'll turn that disaster into a beauty!

Rothmar2 · February 22, 2015, 10:36:25 PM

Have made a little progress on this build. I have made the extra dog, set for alternating.

And I'm in the process of fairing the side plates back. I'm using Devon Plastic steel epoxy for most of the filling work, but will use a thinner epoxy with filler when the larger pits are done. It's amazing how deep the pits were once you scape out all the loose corrosion powder. Felt like a dentist for a few hours scraping away at the bad spots. Once the bulk of the deposits were removed, the plates were soaked overnight in white vinegar to get rid of the fine bits you can't see.
The plates were then rinsed in fresh water for a few hours, then hit with brake cleaner to get rid of any grease and to make sure the surfaces were clean before applying the Devcon.

Hopefully when I get home, they'll be ready for a coat or two of high build primer, more fairing, and then hopefully the top coats.

BMITCH · February 23, 2015, 12:16:09 AM

Rothmar, I can't wait to see what you do with this mess!!

handi2 · February 23, 2015, 12:26:03 AM

Keep us in the loop..!

alantani · February 23, 2015, 01:02:02 AM

i'll bet it cleans up nice!

Shark Hunter · February 23, 2015, 04:16:36 AM

Good Work Rothmar!

I know you will settle for nothing less than Perfection.

Marcq · February 23, 2015, 06:05:20 AM

Man!! That reel needs a lot of love

Marc..

jonnou · February 25, 2015, 10:51:58 PM

Love these old Diawas the washers are so thick you can plus up the drag with the factory metal washers

thorhammer · February 26, 2015, 01:01:05 AM

very interesting about the devcon fill. what are you going to paint with and what color? nice work.

Rothmar2 · February 26, 2015, 10:38:20 AM

Hi thorhammer,

Tossing up two options, either a 2pac system, or will be emailing a place in Australia that does Cerakoting, although I have the feeling there will be an issue with the Devcon, and baking process for Cerakote, ie, will be too hot for the epoxy.
Probably go black, I'm a bit boring with colour. As I am planning to make a topless stainless frame (polished) for my mind that will be a "classic" look. It just won't do the original anodising any favours though.
I will keep the whole process posted on here. I would like to hear from anyone who has attempted this sort of thing before, if there are any tips they can give me.

Rothmar2 · April 14, 2015, 03:07:01 PM

Decided to make a 5 stack drag for this reel, and do away with this....check out the thickness of the original fibre washers, I think they may have expanded somewhat!

They have expanded to the point where the top keyed washer was rubbing against the rim of the sleeve opening, you can see the chrome has been scraped off the brass in this pic

So I found some 0.7mm stainless shim steel and traced out a 5 stack of keyed and eared washers, and began producing the shapes

They were shaped with a combination of belt sander, dremel with the sanding drum, and needle files. Each washer took about 1 1/2hrs to make.
The completed stack, the carbon fibre is 0.6mm. So there is a fair bit of room to play with at the top of the stack compared with how it was.
There is still a bit more fine tuning with the metals, I will lap them, and there is a bit of rubbing against the side of the gear recess with one or more of the washers, but I will worry about this later. The C/F washers are ID 12mm, and OD 24mm.

Fairing of the side plates is still ongoing, I just do odd bits here and there when I have a spare half hour or so. Hopefully will have these ready for high build priming when I get home, and then another round of fairing....anyone who has restored a boat will be able to relate.....

I have stripped the line from the spool to find that there is no major pitting, but whatever the coating was on it, is now flaking away. Thinking this might get the Cerakote treatment. Will have to ensure the shaft is well masked beforehand though.

Trouble is, I have now acquired a Jigmaster, another project that I'm trying to find time for, which I'm also excited about because of all the upgrades now available. Will get a thread up on that one soon.