Stiffening a noodle of a rod by filling with epoxy

[JasonGotaProblem]

I remember seeing old school heavy action st Croix rods that were labeled as "urethane-filled" and that gave me an idea.

I have 2 rods i built a while ago, both 2 piece, both lipstick-on-pig builds where a wallyworld rod got better hardware. Both are floppier than i want them to be. Both seem like that floppy nature is driven by cheap construction more than an intentional design consideration. What should i expect action-wise if i were to fill the bottom section with a 2 part epoxy?

I was thinking envirotex lite because it's quite thin and flows well when mixed, and hard but still flexible when cured. And I already have a bunch.

[ExcessiveAngler]

Why don't you try it out on another, Mickey Mouse noodle blank first lol!
I have a couple, 10' and 11' very old, moderate one piece custom Lamiglas surf rods!
They have really thick, extra long deco. butt wraps, like 12 inches from the stripper lol!
The blanks definitely flex more, at the end of the wrap, towards the stripper guide!
Actually, makes me a little nervous sometimes
And I can tell you for a fact, that the structural epoxy(Devcon) definitely affects a thinner, moderate blank, ask me how I know!
I would try to do it with several thin coats, till you get the action you want!
One thing about Envirotex lite, it definitely likes to flow everywhere lol!

[JasonGotaProblem]

Im talking about filling the cavity inside the blank to make it solid.

[ExcessiveAngler]

Darn it the page refreshed!!!
Not real big, on filling the whole cavity idea, thank it will crack inside!
Also, what about expansion and contraction?
I've worked with this stuff before, with all my daughter's school Projects, that's how I got the idea to use it on fishing rods lol!
I'm thinking, it's going to not only make it heavy, but  also way stiffer than you really want it to be, maybe I'm wrong again lol!
E-Tex starts to get really hard, when you go really thick with it, it's tough stuff lol!
That's why I was thinking, you could do it in light coats to achieve your desired action!
Only one way to find out brother lol!

[Midway Tommy]

Have you thought about expandable foam? Depending on the length of the section you might be able to shoot it in from both ends. If it fills the cavity completely at least it would be somewhat flexible. I did that once to a landing net and it stiffened it up well, and it will now float.

[steelfish]

I remember seeing old school heavy action st Croix rods that were labeled as "urethane-filled" and that gave me an idea.

I have 2 rods i built a while ago, both 2 piece, both lipstick-on-pig builds where a wallyworld rod got better hardware. Both are floppier than i want them to be. Both seem like that floppy nature is driven by cheap construction more than an intentional design consideration. What should i expect action-wise if i were to fill the bottom section with a 2 part epoxy?

I was thinking envirotex lite because it's quite thin and flows well when mixed, and hard but still flexible when cured. And I already have a bunch.

I had that idea of filling the blank of a cheap rod I found on a flea market with epoxy but never did it, my estimation was that it would add way too much weight to the blank, my other option was also fitting another cheap rod inside in order to make it "filled" and stronger but I couldnt find a cheap rod blank that fits correctly so, I dropped the idea too, I cannot talk about what will work better in your case but as EA said, just one way to find it.

if you have a bunch of envirotex and if by chance do you have a spare cheap rod on which you could do some test before trying it on you fishing rod, go for it.

[Keta]

Epoxy is heavy and the rods might not be fun to fish with.  You might try spray foam insulation.

[Shellbelly]

Hmmmm.  How would you control the fill to make sure there are no voids?  It seems you would need to manipulate the epoxy with a rod or something to make sure trapped air gets out before it sets.

[nelz]

Here's an alternative that I actually did myself...

Had a rod I really liked except for the floppiness, but found a way to stiffen it up real nice. I had a blank that happened to slide perfectly into the larger rod. So, I spread epoxy all over it and slid 'er in, gave time to dry, and bingo! The perfect action!

Only negative was of course the resulting rod weighs as much as two rods, but it's not as bad as say a solid glass rod. Worked out great for me. 

[oldmanjoe]

I would skip the idea of filling , leave that for last .    Reason being that you have no control over what happens ....    I would wrap the stick with thread  and use water base polyurethane , that way you can control the action .  Go to far and you can remove easily.   

    If you have to fill use some thing that you can work with saw dust , ground up Styrofoam , something were you can add and subtract easily  until you find action you are looking for .. 

[Alan Matsuno]

Add a guide or two, the guide feet will change the action.

[jurelometer]

Do a test run with a straw. Unreinforced epoxy is not elastic. Especially a  hard clear doming resin like Etex.


Solid  (polyester resin) blanks actually have reinforcing fibers throughout the cross section.

Check out this chart that shows tensile strength, elasticity and stress loading of pure epoxy vs various fiber blends and percentages.
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/a-Tensile-strength-and-elastic-modulus-of-pure-epoxy-and-composites-b-the_fig3_337404874

I guess you could add some commercial chopped fiber and rig up a contraption  to inject it bubble-free, but you could buy a few really nice blanks for the same money.  It would be a fun test project with a straw or three to see how close (or far) you can get to making a useful solid glass blank recipe.

-J

[nelz]

Unreinforced epoxy is not elastic.

Yes, as I remember it now (for that very reason) I only epoxy'd about 1/3 of the lower portion of the rod I inserted.

[Keta]

Hmmmm.  How would you control the fill to make sure there are no voids?  It seems you would need to manipulate the epoxy with a rod or something to make sure trapped air gets out before it sets.

A long tube and start filling from the tip.

[boon]

I think the two major risks would be ruining the balance of the rod by ending up with far too much weight in the butt, and creating a "hinge" point in the blank that increased the chance of breakage.

The real solution is to get more rods... and then more reels to go with these rods. And then more rods. Repeat.