Washing a reel with fresh water after fishing salt water?

[Corky]

I have heard most professionals say, don't rinse a reel with water. We fish in some sloppy conditions and it just doesn't make sense. Salt destroys everything. I always use a spray bottle to rinse the rod and at least run a little water on the line. What do I do about salt getting inside the reel?
Corky

[johndtuttle]

Heck yea rinse it with fresh! Don't know who in heck has been telling you that but it's a standard of reel care at the end of the day when fishing saltwater.  A light rinse on the outside. Easy does it.

Best bet is to tighten up your drag before you do it as you would be just asking for water to get in there. Then loosen it afterwards to save spring washers and other doodads from fatigue.

The dilemma is that you always potentially can be pushing salt deeper in the reel (water rinsing from out to inside). It will tend to collect in the worst places (bearings and their receptacles, inside the spool etc). This is why we preach prepping the reel in well in advance. If all is well greased there is no place for the salt and water to go and out it goes through the drain holes or simply sits there until it evaporates with no harm done as it can't reach anything to start corrosion.

It also is why there is no substitute for opening up your reel and really knowing what is inside there from time to time and heading off whatever insidious evile process might be at work  .

[Keta]

I always rinse my gear with fresh water but I am careful not to force grit and salt into the reel.

[Bryan Young]

I rinse my reels with warm water after use in salt... it lies on my shower floor while i shower then spray down in shower and remove when dry.  Yeah, my wife hate's it and complains, but my reels show no corrosion...

That and ever reel have been pre-serviced before use.

[day0ne]

When I lived in an apt, I threw my rods and reels in the swimming pool. Not a single problem after 20 years with some reels. I hate doing them in a shower, though I have to when I'm out of town. I use the hose in the back yard when I'm at home.

[Jeri]

Hi Corky,

Here in Namibia we fish in conditions that are tough on tackle at times, and put our reels through a lot of hardship. Firstly we travel up and down dusty roads with our reels and rods on the front of the 4x4 vehicles. We travel with them in the same position up the beach, and then at times wade out into the sea and cast at times from positions chest deep – all of this puts a lot of sand, dust and salt water into and onto the reels.

Get home, reels off the rods; they get a separate wash down. Then the reels go to a bowl of fresh water for complete immersion for a minute or so. Taken out and brushed off, then left to drain naturally – through the drain holes. Then packed away until the next trip, I would concur with John's point of leaving the drag tight during immersion, then back off completely once dry.

That is standard operating procedure for all our reels, star drags or lever drags, and after 10 years of this sort of treatment we still have some reels that we are using since the beginning; others have been sold, and still working well.

Two points here, if you don't immerse the reels in fresh water, then the salt has nowhere to go, except do its worse to which ever internal components it rests on. The total immersion, dilutes and dissolves the salt, and runs away when draining. A small change to the above is that recently we have taken to just spraying the outer cases of the reels with a silicone spray, and polishing – hoping that the silicone stops or at least slows some of the dust and salt sticking to the reels.

I do a lot of reel servicing, as part of our shop business, and all the problems associated with reels, usually comes from folks not cleaning their reels in this manner. Apart from bearings, the other big corrosion point is between stainless steel and aluminium parts, like drive shafts and handles.

The point is to get rid of the salt, otherwise it will find its way to a point where it can only do harm.

Hope that all helps.

Cheers from sunny Africa


Jeri

[CapeFish]

We have a reel mechanic where I live that tells people not to rinse reels in freshwater as it is more corrosive than salt and to spray the reels inside out with tackle guard which off course removes all the oil and grease.

It is simply a myth unless you have caustic soda in your drinking water. Rinse your reels in freshwater and even dunk them in a bucket if they went swimming. If you have a saltwater proof grease coating inside then you have nothing to worry about and even if you haven't serviced it properly the salt water will ruin it quickly if you just leave the reel.

[johndtuttle]

We have a reel mechanic where I live that tells people not to rinse reels in freshwater as it is more corrosive than salt and to spray the reels inside out with tackle guard which off course removes all the oil and grease.

It is simply a myth unless you have caustic soda in your drinking water. Rinse your reels in freshwater and even dunk them in a bucket if they went swimming. If you have a saltwater proof grease coating inside then you have nothing to worry about and even if you haven't serviced it properly the salt water will ruin it quickly if you just leave the reel.

Sounds like an auto mechanic telling people to never change their oil as fresh oil causes damage and wear  .

Then again, he is in the repair industry...just trying to drum up business?

Fresh water rinses are the bain of a reel repair guy. Nothing will bring a reel to his shop faster than doing nothing after fishing in salt.

[alantani]

if you don't go through a reel first, then nothing you do will matter.  so what i do is fully service a reel first, getting a light coat of grease on all the inside surfaces.  after a trip, the reels get hosed down with fresh water.  the greased carbon fiber drag washers are impervious to water, salt or fresh.  the non-spool bearings that have been packed with grease are also no problem.  and the inside surfaces have a light coat of grease so that water will not stick.  that just leaves the spool bearings.  i'm figuring they will have to be replaced every few years anyway, so i just rinse away.

after running the reels under fresh water, i give them a spray of corrosion x and then wipe them down.  that's it, done.  the spool bearings are at risk because of this, but at least i will not have to worry about surface corrosion.   and i have plenty of bearings!   

[kmstorm64]

With the amount and type of grease we put on things I am trying to figure out how regular water is going to be worse than salt water?  But what do I know?  This reel tech sounds off his rocker. 

[Keta]

I hate to work on reels that have been neglected and do pre service on friends reels for free.  I also try to teach them the proper way to take care of their gear.

[johndtuttle]

With the amount and type of grease we put on things I am trying to figure out how regular water is going to be worse than salt water?  But what do I know?  This reel tech sounds off his rocker. 

If something is coated in grease it can be submerged in saltwater and last a remarkably long time. Not forever, but until you get back from your trip and get a chance to get things cleaned up.

Sal did a really cool post a while back where he coated iron nails partly with grease and submerged them. After a week the non-coated parts of the nails were red/black and chewed up and the water was red with rust. The coated parts of the same nail once wiped free of the discolored grease looked like new.

Grease will not do it forever, but your reel can be completely submerged, wait several days before service and be restored to as new condition with no damage whatsoever if it is properly prepped. I think that is the goal here....prevention rather than the ultimate cure all .

[johndtuttle]

Show your reel tech guy that doesn't believe in fresh water rinses this post:

http://www.stripersonline.com/t/939247/how-would-you-have-gone-about-cleaning-this#post_11296526

This is a reel that was submerged for months in a stream bed and had zero corrosion. If it has been in saltwater it would have been one solid piece of corrosion like that reel Alan saw at Fred Hall.

[Keta]

Most of the lakes in SE Oregon have a high PH and metals go away faster than in salt water.  This is not common in most freshwater though.

[johndtuttle]

Oh, good to know Keta.

Sounds like the pH increases galvanic action.