Penn 112H Senator (1975 vintage ?) repair questions

[Alto Mare]

Steamed crabs and beer in the snow, can't beat that! I also made a few dozen with garlic white wine and fresh tomatoes for the gravy over linguine with lots of hot pepper, don't forget I'm full blooded Italiano. Take care Dom and keep that leg up, don't be a hero, let it take its course and you'll be on the water in no time. Sal

Sal:  You're killing me.  You just gave me a rush.  I miss my deer hunting days in upstate NY.  I remember plenty of days of linguine with clams and beer kept in the snow to keep them from freezing.  Never had steamed crabs back then but we did have memorable meals.  Dominick

Hey Dominick, I'm sure you have some great stories.You know what it's all about when a group of guys gets together for a week up in the mountains. If you ever want to bring back memories, just get on the plane and head on over. My buddy has two houses next to eachother, there is alwaysroom for one more hunter/sailor. We have guys from Canada, Italy and Florida,that come up every year.Everyone tries to one-up each other, wich is why I brought the crabs.Unfortunately, it's always the guy with the 5 gallons of homemade wine who wins.

[Alto Mare]

Tpf903, sorry that we got sidetracked from your topic. If you replace the 3 drag washers with carbontex,also replace the washer under the main gear  with a carbontex washer and replace the gear sleeve with a stainless steel sleeve, you'll have a nice happy reel that will give you many years of service, I would leave it at that. I personally don't like to remove material from the side plate to accomodate more drags. Or, you could do a complete overall like Dom did, but be ready to dish out some dough. I know that I already mentioned some of this to you earlier, but I wanted to put your topic back on track. Take care, Sal

[Dominick]

Sorry Tpf903:  We're Italian.  Food and wine comes first.  Dominick

[broadway]

    Okay, now you guys are making me question myself... now that I have PLENTY of time I will crack open my 112h's to check and make sure I'm not talkin' out my you know what.  While I'm at it I will type up my "how to clean a reel" article that I owe you guys (I'm gettin' on it Dominick).  I'm sorry I haven't responded but I've worked all week, and when I get home I'm pretty shot. Tpf903, If my 112h's only have 3+1 they sure max out pretty high on the scale (though, I don't know how long it would sustain over 12lbs of drag.)  If you do as Sal and the boys say you'll have a powerful little reel for LIFE!  I'll get back to yas on drag stack....Oh, and Akfish I didn't dremel the plate at all, but I did change out the spacer, not to say that would afford me the room... hmmm?  If it wasn't 1AM with a broken foot, and work at 9AM I would crack one open now.
   Hey Dominick and Sal,
I'm going hunting with you guys- food, wine, shooting things, I'm In!!! 
Dom

[broadway]

      Okay, I stand corrected... it is only the 3+1 in the 112H as Akfish said.  I'm sure some of you reel repair guys know that when you take apart about 90 Senators of all different sizes in a period of 9 months things all start to blend together.  I may try to dremel a bit in an old sideplate to see if I can squeeze two more carbon drags in by doubling them up.  Has anyone given this a shot yet?  Any thoughts?  Everything else I and others said to do is correct... I just checked everything to make sure.  By the way, I like my reel nice and tight so I did go with a longer spacer (2 sizes up) from Penn Parts to cut down on the play...and that it did.  Now turn that reel into a fish catchin' animal, and have fun doing it.
Dom

[Alto Mare]

Hey Dom, even if you could squeeze 5 drags in that little reel, why would you?  This reel is happy the way it is. On this particular reel, increasing the drag will work against you, fishing it over 8 pounds will eventually domage your gears. I've seen your nice collection and looks like you have a reel for every needs, let this one go. Just my opinion, take care bud, Sal

[broadway]

Hey Sal,

      I'm gonna be good till at least a constant drag of 12lb. with the Newell Gears and all the stainless add-ons inside her.  The Tib. frame for rigidity will help me achieve that.  I have them on 10 of my work horse reels, and none in the collection cause I'm keeping the collection all original.  As you know for wire lining I don't have many choices, as I need that chromed over brass spool otherwise I risk ruining spools and wire which can become costly.  Hey, if it don't hold it's own I'll just have to stick with the 113hsp's.... let's see what happens.
Dom

[Alto Mare]

You could change the frame on those nice custom 113h's, from narrow to standard width and add the chromed spool. I have a few of those.

[broadway]

    You know we don't use narrow's on the east coast... just the westies    All my customs are 113hsp's with the standard chromed over brass.... just need something for smaller hands, (not mine I'm 6'5" with XL hands), but I have lots of female guests that come out with me    Also, I take my friends and their children out a lot. 
Dom

[Alto Mare]

Hey Dom, we talk about hand cleaners and I hear about female guests, we talk about reels and still hear about female guests, you must have a lot of guests. Hey, if you join me on the chesapeake we would be safe, the water there is 6' deep on the average except for the ship channel that dropps 60 to 70 ', if something would happen, I could get on your back and be safe, I'm only 5'7". What is it with you guys, my best buddy is Irish and he is 6'7"....is it the cabbage? We eat cabbage too but we add pigs feet and beans in ours.

[broadway]

Sal,
     If I was a woman you would definitely say I was promiscuous, so in all fairness I'm a little promiscuous (lots of guests) 
I hope you're fishing those 6'-60' ledges you got there.  If I were fishing that deep I would drag an eel all over those ledges, and leave the wire down below.  Do you guys use eel?  We use them especially in the fall because that's when we can get 'em, but if you can find them in the spring... they're deadly!  The reason the are so deadly in the spring especially is because that's when the stripers go up river to spawn.  The eel are not only a food source for stripers, but also a mortal enemy of the stripers due to the fact that they eat the stripers eggs. Sometimes in the spring we haul bass in with red (from irritation) faces because the stripers actually hammer the eels into the sand several times to kill them.  If you have an eel on in the spring you can actually feel them pounding it compared to the fall when they just take it and run. 
By the way, I never eat cabbage (must be a little more Sicilian than Italian, send in the escarole and broccoli rabe any day... mom always said it was fruit loops and fruity pebbles    As for the pigs feet, you and my old man would get along... hope you like tripe, too!
Dom

[Alto Mare]

Dom, we drag eels in the spring and use blood worms, you're right , eels are hard to get. In the fall , I work the birds about a mile out of Long Port and Ocean City, I use chunks of bunker and fresh clam. I'm sure you know what it's like when you're on top of them, they feed along with those nasty blues, but they're fun to hook. Last fall I cought a 48 incher, that's the largest for me so far. I kept him , when I opened him up he had 4 whole bunkers in its stomach. In late fall, around the third week of November, when the boat gets winterized, I do a little fishing from the jetty. I use clam, if I get lucky, that striper goes on the table for Thanksgiving, I don't like turkey. 

[broadway]

Hey Sal,

     I hate when the blues infiltrate the area, but don't mind a good fight here and there.  They fight a heck of a lot better than stripers for sure!  We weed the blues out by using bunker heads (cut on diagonal behind the gill an inch to get the heart, hook through bottom jaw out the nostrils, clip the pec fins... bye bye blues!!!  We take our boats out at the same time... the week before turkey day.... after that the weather can be dicey.  48 inch cow is a nice fish.  What was the weight... about 46lbs?  My biggest is 46 1/2" 40lbs. flat (caught in 2008)!  It's the fish in my avatar.  Ahh, nothing like jetty fishing in late November with a cold northeast blowing 20 mph at your back while throwing a popper or danny 100 yds. to raise that morning monster.  I miss the days I surf fished.  That's where I started out, but since the boat I kinda just call it quits when I put her to bed.  Kudos to ya!!!
Dom

[Alto Mare]

Dom, we're going to have to stop talking about all that good stuff, I understand that we're all a big family here, but a real fisherman doesn't reveal all his secrets ( fishing....not fishing reels). I was going to post mine in my avatar, but didn't want to make you look bad, just kidding. I didn't have the camera that day, my buddy took one with his cell phone and it didn't come out too clear,I will still show it to you as soon as  my 14 years old son shows me how to down load it. Isn't that a shame? Take care bud.

[broadway]

Sal,

       You're 100% right about not giving up all the secrets, however, I like telling people how I fish.  What I don't give away (except to very few) are my spots, chosen habitat for the time of year, tides I fish on, moon phase, water conditions, temperature, etc.  Without these things all ya got is luck... and luck don't fill coolers (even though I throw almost all fish back ... I do produce)!  Looking bad with a 40lb'er is okay with me    I like to hear fisherman doing well, but boy do I hate when a newbie nails a 50lb'er at my dock... I guess luck does fill coolers from time to time   What was the weight of your 48"er?  I had to keep my 40 lb'er also cause it was exhausted from the fight..  The bigger the fish, the better chance on mortality when releasing.  I have been able to throw a whole lotta 20-30+lb'ers back. Ya better get that 50lb'er before the foot heals otherwise she's ALL mine Be well pal
Dom