International 30

[UKChris]

I have a very old International 30 for service because it 'doesn't work right.' Well, that was an understatement. Apart from the salt accumulation on the outside, there was something very odd going on inside.

When in 'free' neither the spool not the handle would turn (well, it might have done, but only at the risk of damage). Push the lever up above 'free' and then the spool is in freespool, the handle turns but it fails to turn the spool. Increase the drag a bit by moving the lever forward and the reel gets to a point where it seems to work ok, but then move the drag lever a tiny bit more and it goes solid. It would be very risky to try to push it further. At this point, gingerly turning the handle produced a grrrr-rinding noise from the innards that suggested more trouble, so I stopped doing that pretty quickly.

Obviously a spacing problem, but what else?

So, I open her up to begin operations and what do I find?

- The drag cover is floating free, not secured to the left side of the spool at all by the three tabs 
- One of the anti-reverse pawls is missing  I find the spring that operates it is broken and I guess that whoever last fiddled with this reel left out the pawl rather than replace the spring 
- And the belville washers are set at )))) 

Thankfully, after a clean round, I find no damage to any of the components. The frame and all screws are sound, the gears show virtually no wear and no rust that didn't run away from a poke with a fingernail and the bearings all good to go. With a new pawl and spring and the washers in the right way round this little reel with be returned to her former glory rather than dumped in the rubbish bin. Not too bad for a reel that must be at least 30 and possibly nearer forty years old.

I couldn't have done it without you guys and the information on this site, so many thanks 

Chris

[UKChris]

An update.

Whilst dealing with this reel I remembered that my other Int. 30 had an old donut style drag whereas this one has the newer HT100 drag and a perfect plate, so I swapped them over. Now my older 30 which looks much better has a smoother drag and this reel will need a bit more work but will still be ok. I'm not likely to splash out for any other parts apart from the anti-reverse pawl and spring. The swap was an easy drop-in replacement both ways.

[Dominick]

Isn't it funny how we want to fish with clean looking reels?  Smart move Chris.  Now get some photos of fish to post.  Dominick

[UKChris]

Supposed to have been fishing all this week in Plymouth, Devon, for sharks    but some darned hurricane called Bertha has just turned up and wiped out the whole week 

Last year I caught 29 in four days, which is pretty good going for the UK - several over the 100lb mark. But not this year it seems.
So I'm in the office instead of out at sea 

Think I'll have another cup of tea and try to get motivated to do some work...

Chris