Okuma Clarion CLR-203L Foot Re-attachment

[Porthos]

At least 10+ years ago, I had Okuma Classic's and Magda Pro's whose foot rivets corroded through and had to be re-attached with M3 screws. Thought at the time it was just the lower end Okuma reels that had low grade steel rivets. Fast forward to July 2023, on a 1/2-day out of Seaforth Landing, was setting up my Clarion CLR-203L for dropper loop on a wreck when unexpectedly, the reel body separated from the foot.

Back home, tapped out the rivet remnants:


Since I got the CLR-203L used off of eBay about four years ago, would guess that the corrosion kicked in and was well under way prior. Wasn't expecting the Clarions to be using the low grade rivets like Okuma's entry level schtuff...   but, oh well. Went on Amazon and found a $5.69, 300pc set of stainless M3 screws, nuts, and washers: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WGW6JJ6?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details. Applying Amazon Visa points brought the final price down to $3.33. The delivered kit from China:



The M3 12mm screw was the best fit, so it replaced each failed rivet in the sequence of screw -> flat washer -> reel frame -> foot -> nut:


View of dry-fit from the "top":


View of dry-fit from the "bottom":


Final fitting will include generous applications of Yamaha Blue Marine Grease The legacy repair on my MA-DX45 is still holding up so expecting the same with the CLR-203L repair. If there are any future foot attachment failures, have plenty of stainless M3's ready.

Hope this helps someone...as always...YMMV.