Vintage Daiwa Surf Spin rod needs Tuned

Started by Decker, October 23, 2017, 07:07:06 PM

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gstours

   After quickly reading the answers to your question I think it gave you some good options.   Butt If you want more length, dont like the reel seat, and also want to change the rear or fore grips,  You can do it all and get what you want.    I,m staying out of the balance part butt,  you can always add weight in the rear part 1/4 part of the rod as you custom tune it after casting in your yard or ? IF you leave the buttcap off till you are finished ......
  So heres your easy street!    Use a grinder or saw (dremel) and saw perpendicular to the reel seat on both sides (180 degrees) till just barely thru the metal.   Be careful! ;)   There is usually some material under that is used to build it up .   Use a heat source like a proropane torch,  stove top burner, or butane to heat it slightly,  go slow as you just want the epoxys or glues to lose their grip.   It works like a charm.
   A sharp knife can help with the old grip if its cork or synthetic.  It doesent have to be real clean as the old stuff will add grip for your new epoxy or the build up material.
   I would add the piece inside the butt end of the rod to make the length that you desire.   Remember you can adjust the length and that may may influince the balance to what you prefer...... What i mean is mock up the length of the butt extension and tape it up  slide your reel (new Graphite) up to what is thought to be a starting point, tape it, mount your expected to use reel.  Throw something like what you might be using on your next fun trip and adjust everything from there.
   You not epoxying any thing yet.   You can adjust the fore length, reel seat placement, the total rod length, and the butt length,   OK?
You can get old graphite broken rods in lots of places cheap.  Select on that will fit approximatly up into the foregrip area. or past would be better.   I will watch this post more and can help in fitting the new extension piece as what works for me. :)

droppedit

Lots of good stuff here and I love hearing what others do. I've added to the butt on many rods but most of them have been for bottom fishing where the handle gets a bit more abuse. I think the same would apply for surf casting too as the butt of the rod will be under pressure during the cast. I've always cut the butt off  of the existing rod right at the rear of the reel seat. Makes no difference if it the original or a new one as long as the seat is fully epoxied. I then take a smaller part of a blank that will slide into the end of the seat, inside the existing blank at least 6"-8" the mark the blank at the back end of the seat. Now you can determine how long you want the handle. Once that is done I'll sand the inside of the blank under the reel seat and the end of the extension that slips under it, push on the butt cap and grip then epoxy it all up. By doing it this way the seat acts as a ferrule and there is not that much of a chance for the joint to fail. Just make sure that the areas to be epoxied are sanded (scored) and wiped clean with alcohol before gluing. Hope this helps.


Dave
Some days the supply of available curse words is insufficient to meet my demands.

http://www.turnerscustomrods.com

Decker

Gary and Dave, thanks for the great tips!   I need to get to work!!  /Joe

gstours

   Yes score both the inner piece and the outer part thats going to be the extension.   You could either fiberglass or graphite as the extender as long as it fits close to the taper and the length is enough.........Score the inner bore of the reel seat as well, with a rasp, file or very course sandpaper on a stick to gibe the epoxy or gorilla glue something to bite into...
   Masking tape, string, of thread,  floss, etc but my favorite is drywall fiberglass mesh tape (stickyback 2" wide) in the final part of the build up process.   Start sliding the extension in and test it for snugness.   Go a little at a time,   untill you are happy with the new fit....... then epoxy with 5 min or whatever you have.  Let cure    It will be plenty strong and covered with the new butt grip anyway.....
  Also remember if you are going to replace the reel seat that you either slide it on first or at least check to make sure you can slide it on to its position after the extension is added. ;)  Sometimes the taper is larger than the seat,   especially as you are leaving the guides on.....
  You can build up the reel seat diameter on the old blank the same way,  sanding, epoxy base coat, string for increasing the diameter, final thread, or drywall fiberglass mesh tape.  slather on epoxy after final fit on both parts or remove and reinstall to insure both parts are fully coated, then slide into position..... Finally adjust the reelseat to align with your guides,    Epoxy can be removed with Acetone and a rag.   
   Ive done several rods in the manner described above and they work fine and you get what you want at an affordable cost.   You can replace the grips from the butt end,  just find what you prefer with the inner bore large enough to slide up from the back end of the rod,  then build it up int he manner described above by sliding and building up the diameter as it will be cylindrical in the grip and tapered on the blank...
   If your using neoprene or hypalon grips they can be heated in oven or heatgun,  blowdryer, and softened as they become quite pliable after heated.......Just go slow,  Youll have fun.   Then throw out a great cast,  Fish On. ;D

Bryan Young

Hi Joe,

Grew up in Hawaii, casting from shore or cliffs, we needed longer rods to keep line off the reefs so we often had to extend the butt of our rods by 3-5 feet.  We have used calcutta bamboo, fiberglass tubs and scrap fishing rods, and aluminum.  Calcutta bamboo is light, flexes and strong, but would sometimes break when it was in the rod older on a heavy strike.  Same with the fiberglass tubes, but the aluminum would bend, so we didn't lose the rod but often had to repair those.  The ends of the rods were commonly capped with a 8"-14" brass or stainless steel butt cap that would protect it from the rocks.  Anyway, my preference in each of these extensions was thick-walled Aluminum. Strong, light, and corrosion resistant.  We would slide the fishing blank in the aluminum, set and glue.  It gave a very uniform diameter for the length and was easy to adjust to the taper of the rod being inserted with thin masking tape bushing and glue up with epoxy.  This way we could easily adjust the length as well.  Before gluing the butt cap on, we would balance the rod with the reel, line and intended casting weight, and add weights in the butt to balanced the tip.  I would then melt lead and pour it in the butt cap so it rests on the bottom before gluing the butt cap on.  Another was was to insert a wooden dowel into the aluminum butt and glue in place.  Change the wood, change the weight.  Hardwoods were heavier than soft woods for example.  I hope this helps.

Call me anytime if you have questions. 

Bryan
:D I talk with every part I send out and each reel I repair so that they perform at the top of their game. :D

Decker

Wow, the response on this thread has been overwhelming.  Thank you all for the great advice!   

Bryan, that ulua fishing sounds great, off the chain!  Got to try that some day.  Fishing from lava cliffs and throwing baits with Senators on long rods.  Crazy stuff.

I need to start to hacking at that rod!   However, the stripers are in in NJ and won't be here long, so I may wait for the off-season.   

Decker

#21
All the great advice I received on this thread gave me a lot of options.  Scouting around for materials, the best I came up with was a ski pole.  It is the tempered variety used for ski racing, and had plenty of length and a nice taper.  I used by carbide-tipped chop saw to trim the butt of the rod clean which had been full of difficult epoxy.

The ski pole came with a basket that I removed, held on by a retainer.  One end of the retainer was to large to fit deeply into the rod, so I cut that part off, leaving the other, smaller ring of the retainer.


Pushing the pole in as far as it would go, I tried the rod out for sizing.   Before starting this 8 inches seemed right, but after holding it and making a few full casting motions, I went much bigger to about 14 1/4 inches of extension.  Then I sut the ski pole with my chop saw.

I had a fresh 2 oz bottle of Gorilla Glue and put nearly half of it on the tapered end of the ski pole.  I inserted the pole, and worked it around to get the glue evenly dispersed.  There was a handle on the ski pole that I carved into a rustic rod butt cap/handle.



The next day, it was ready for fishing, but the rod did not leave the house.  I decided to keep this simple and not do anything with the reel seat yet.   That long butt feels really powerful for casting.   You can really get your shoulders into it.  The balance with my Spinfisher 650SS was greatly improved, with the balance point only 2-3 inches ahead of the reel stem.  I'm looking forward to casting this rod long distances in the surf, with light lures like bucktails, metals, plastic shads.  It has a nice deep whip to it that is difficult to find in moderately-priced graphite rods these days.

thorhammer

Oh, I know those rods! Those are Dynaflo guides, I think that rod series was called Apollo.  Nice work on  the extension.

Decker

Quote from: thorhammer on November 28, 2017, 08:01:02 PM
Oh, I know those rods! Those are Dynaflo guides, I think that rod series was called Apollo.  Nice work on  the extension.

Hey, John!  Thanks for all the encouragement.  Now I'm ready to extend lots more rods  ::)  Dynaflo guides, huh?  Sounds very 70's.  What is a good way to polish the inside of guide rings?  They're metal.

Rancanfish

Joe, try wrapping 0000 steel wool around a pencil, then stick it in a drill.  Before you put enough pressure to do any damage, the pencil will break.
I woke today and suddenly nothing happened.

thorhammer


Decker

Thanks, guys,  will try the steel wool.  I had a bunch of pics in my post that went away (was my bad).  Will need to put them back later.