Stainless stand for a 349 Master Mariner

[mhc]

Newell, Accurate and Tiburon all made 'Wahoo Special' width stands or frames for the 349 Mariners, but as far I know, there isn't a standard width after market stand or frame available. I had put Black Pearl's (Pro Challenger) stainless bars, Adam's (Motive fabrications) gear insert, SS sleeve, star and handle arm, Alan T grip and one of Lee's (Keta) 349 dogs (plus a couple of modified dogs) on a 349H and wanted to beef up the stand a bit.

I started with a couple of 30-12T 30-20T stands and had the mounting holes filled in with a mig welder



Then used a bench grinder and files to clean up the welds and remove the excess material, cut a couple of 'spacers' or plates out of 3 mm thick SS to screw the side plates to. The 12T 20T stands are a bit over 39mm wide and the 349 stands are 41.2 wide - I trimmed one of the stands down to 35.2 mm wide so the stand would equal 41.2 mm with the 3 mm sides attached;





There wasn't anywhere to attach rod clamps, the 30-20T stand has cut-outs to allow the rod clamps to be screwed to the frame. I made some lugs to screw a clamp into that are screwed to the sides.







Cleaned up a bit for a test fit







And the assembled reel with a Newell speed clamp



Not sure if it's stronger with all the holes in the side spacers but it is heavier at 88gms compared to 52 gms for a stock stand, or about 1.3 oz heavier. The reel is also a bit lower with this stand - around 1/4" although I haven't measured it.
I'm open to suggestions for improvement before I tackle the next one, particularly for the rod clamp attachment - it seems a bit bulky.

Mike

[Rothmar2]

That's some nice work right there Mike. Certainly looks tough enough. My rod clamp solution?? Hey lets just make a full 349 SS frame ala Jigmaster.....

One of these days (when the Jiggy's are done) I'll get onto those 349 SS ring sets. Looking forward to getting around to tanking up the 349 parts I've got.

That sure is a beast of a 349 you have now though.

[STRIPER LOU]

Excellent job Mike. Another tank!!! Looks sweet.
..............Lou

[redsetta]

Great work Mike - love the 349s.
Cheers, Justin

[Alto Mare]

Beautiful work Mike, that looks awesome!

[Superhook]

Mike,

Lots of good hard work here . Only because you asked for suggestions i would think about cutting half moons to weld into the cut outs which would then make it one piece.

Ray

[swill88]

... you gotta extra?

[Shark Hunter]

WOW Mike. Pretty Impressive.

[thorhammer]

I bet a case of Natty Daddy that Daron is thinking about which International stand fits a 14/0....

[Shark Hunter]

  I am Now!

[mhc]

Thanks guys.
Thanks for the suggestion Ray, I was thinking along the same lines but I'm am not sure if it could be done without too much distortion to the stand - I'm not a welder/fitter but I thought single spots like filling the mounting holes isn't too bad but continuous linear welds are more likely to warp the piece. I'll see what my mate with the mig thinks next time I see him - if it can be done it would be a lot simpler.

I bet a case of Natty Daddy that Daron is thinking about which International stand fits a 14/0....

Ha Ha Ha! good one!!..Ha.......umm.......well.......ah....Daron - how wide is a 14/0 stand?  

[Shark Hunter]

4" on the dot.

[Tightlines667]

There are international stands that would work, though the hole patterns do not line up.  I suggested this several times over the past 3 years.  I think Cal's stands are really our best option here.  

Maybe someone can design a means of marrying these together?

The stands are a weak link in the larger Senators.

Here is what I had to say around a year ago on the topic...

http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=14355.0

"
June 03, 2015, 09:38:48 PM »

I think most of the stand twist I've seen, particuarily on the 14/0s is from a few combined factors...
1)Pre-existing metal fatigue, from old, worn reels
2)Fishing the reel beyond what it was designed for (i.e. 300-400lb mono w/drag locked down tight and a powerful fish on the other end)
3)Fishing the reel without the rod braces

I have seen way too many badly twisted and fatigued stands for this to be caused by simply dropping the reel, or tightening it down on the rod too hard.  Though, I'm not saying you can't bend, bow, or fatigue the stand this way as well.

The same problem exists on the origional International I reels, and seems to occur more frequently on those models that have upgraded drags, capabable of putting out much higher numbers then the reel was origionally designed for.  The tabs, or metal above the stand holes often break as well. 

In both cases the stands are twisted, resulting in a slight overall twist and misalignment to the entire reel.  The twisting seems indicative to me of twisting forces being applied to the reel.  Such as when the line is at one far end of the wide spool, under heavy load, the rod is fixed in place, and there are heavy loads being applied to the handle (often times on the power downstroke, in the opposite side but at 90 deg to the force applied to the spools. 

I think cal recognized this, when he designed and manufactured strong, aftermarket stands for these reels, which I believe he often recommended when 'blueprinting' a reel to produce more drag then stock.  These stands by the way are the exact same width a dimensions, needed to fit the BigBoy Senators, but the hole locations are incorrect. Seems to me they would make an excellent prototype for, if they were to be machined out of aluminum.  Alternatively, stronger stands could be pressed out of stainless, using the stock as prototypes, or the heavier/cast stands found on the International I 130s could be used as a prototype. 

I think the fact that people fish both the big boy senators, and the International Is hard, and despite occasional stand twist or other problems..they continue to work, is a testimate to a well designed, overbuilt reel. 

I don't think the stands, or the posts are going to present any noticable problems (especially short-term, and under most normal use conditions), even with the upgrades available.  And I sm sure there will be no catastrophic failures....
But they would make a more cost effective alternative to a full, or half frame as a next possible, worthy upgrade. 

The frames would be cool though. 

All this stuff starts to cost alot to produce for these larger reels (especially in small batches).

The drag insert, SS sleeve, and handle upgrades will really offer the greatest (and most cost-effective) upgrades for these reels.  It is really cool to see ideas come to life, and become reality.
"

[Cortez_Conversions]

Looks like we've all been looking at the 349s.....

I pulled the pics. I don't want to take away from anything Mike is doing here.

Sorry Mike!

[swill88]

Looks like we've all been looking at the 349s.....

WOW!