HELP!!

[BMITCH]

Ok, I have this acid wrapped rod. I like the action but didn't like the handle. It had the trigger type grip and the ring that would hold down the reel foot would distort when you screwed it down to the reel foot with any force. I took off the rear foam and trigger handle and now I'm left with the blank through.



What I would like to do is attach a longer piece of rod to the butt area and make a deckhand style mount with the cork tape.



My question is....can I do this and how to attach. Would I need an arbor for the entire length to be attached or just in sections. And finally, am I trying to make a rod that just won't work. Am I just better off putting another handle on it.
Oh...I did this also because I wanted to add 6" to 8" to the rod length. Any comments or direction would be great.

[Bryan Young]

HI Bob,

Hmm...the answer is yes and no.  It really depends on how stout the butt of the blank is.  If you were to only arbor let's say the top and bottom, under heavy flexing of the rod, the blank would flex in tube you are adding and the black would hit the side walls of the tube.  On the other hand, if you built up arbors for the entire butt section, the butt would be well supported, but the blank above may not be able to handle the added pressure due to the butt not flexing.  It's hard to say, but something to think about.

[Jeri]

Hi

I would suggest that if you can find an appropriate length of carbon tube, that you build your entire new 'longer handle' on it, and slip it over the existing butt end. However, what you are going to end up with is a much stiffer butt section to the rod with potentially zero flex, which might affect the whole action of the rod.

The length of carbon tube (an old rod butt section) will inevitably be tapered, and need to be cut so that it just fits over the widest part of the existing butt end. The progressively up the rest of the existing butt, you will need to add spacers to carry the new butt tube. These spacers can be something 'nasty' like masking tape, or more exotic like drywall joint tape – the perforated kind. Then with heaps of 2 part resin, slide the new butt over the existing – align and leave to set and cure. Obviously steps like cleaning the existing butt section with acetone, as well as the internal of the new handle – to give the resin a good key for bonding.

I wouldn't recommend shortening the existing butt section, as this will reduce the support to the new handle section.

All these problems with lower butt construction come about because of the original blank and its taper, so the new butt section has to be that much larger than the original, and potentially loses a lot of the original balance. Very few rod blanks are made with fully parallel butt sections – though we do have a number coming through in surf rods, that are benefiting from the parallel construction – much stiffer than tapered tube.

Hope that helps.


Cheers from sunny Africa


Jeri

[BMITCH]

Jeri, that's exactly what I was thinking of doing. In the second pic. You'll see I have apiece of rod butt section next to this rod. I know this will "stiffen" the butt section after the install. From my testing with a weight attached to this rod there was not much flex all the way through the butt section. Not a major issue I think. I really like the idea of the perforated dry wall tape. From other rod butt rebuilds I have seen plain masking tape but was wondering if there was something better. The taper from the very bottom to where the fore grip is attached is not as dramatic as some rods I have seen so I believe the "tube" I will be sliding over this will be fairly snug all the way up. I'm going to leave the fore grip as is for resting on the rail of the boat if needed. I thank you and Bryan for the above suggestions as you both have confirmed what I was already thinking. Once I have this done I will post up some pictures of how the final results came out. I could have just gone out and bought a new deckhand style rod but seeing that I had this one here and wasn't using it due to the reel mounting hardware why not give it a shot?

Bob

[Jeri]

Hi Bob,

The tube that you show in the scond picture looks like glass, not carbon. For a stronger job, I would look to using carbon tube, especially as you are looking to extend the bottom length.

Cheers from sunny Africa,

Jeri

[BMITCH]

Spot on Jeri, it is glass. I just put it up there for demo. Thanks for the input.

Bob

[Keta]

You should be able to extend the rod butt by 6"-8" but not much more.  I've extended a few but it was less than 4".  Full support of your extension will be critical.

[Bryan Young]

I think you will be fine.  I would still put arbors 1/2" to 1 " apart for the entire length though.  At the very butt end, you could insert a wooden dowel to add support to the end of the butt from abuse.