Penn International 20 VISX got a long swim

[steelfish]

this kind of stories only happen to me   

I have a guy contacting me for a service to an International reel, was until I met him that I knew he was a commercial diver ( for clams, etc) and while working (under the sea) he found a shiny reel with rod, not surprise for the many stories of guys loosing their gear overboard.
it was a Penn International 20 VISX along with an Okuma PCH XXXH railrod, the rod looks in good shape considering some minor brownish corrosion marks on the guides feet but the reel was pretty stuck and lots of tiny barnacles on the reel 

the diver is a person of low income and for now he just wanted to check if the reel was still salvageable and if positive just clean it up to make it work and give him an estimation of the cost to replace any broken part, to buy them later and probably sell the reel, for now he ask to much for it because he saw the cost of the reel online.
as you can see the reel was "used by little mermaid to clean and sweep the ocean floor" that or I it was dragged by a fish by the strong braid line on the bottom of the sea because it was literally FULL of sand I mean really packed with sand you will see the pictures

in short, the reel seems to it didnt spent too much time under the water because other than loosing the shiny gold of the anodizing job on some parts leaving a mate lighter gold color on the reel, a lot of parts didnt show any sign of corrosion while others got some marks and spots of corrosion, just the pinion bearing was pretty frozen but it was full of sand, the rest of the bearing were still spinning smooth (good work on Penn Factory), you will see the lips of the spool with some corrosion spots and marks of the barnacles and the push buttom of the to switch speed was pretty corroded (low quality plus very thin aluminium here) but the part was still in one piece and do its work.

now a ton of pictures, no comments on each of them, just post them here for your visual pleasure










































salwater trapped on the spool   











now the handle side with was packed with sand to the brim



any one need salt ? check the 2-speed push buttom



I had to dismantle the whole 2-speed mechanism to clean it and take any sand left inside



the handle after a deep clean up, showing the corroded spots left




parts cleaned and ready for the grease, oil and back to put together








you would never know this reel spent few days packed with sand on the ocean floor






this part wasnt at par to the rest on the quality, low cost material that or needs a better corrosion control additive to the paint




now all the parts of the reel fully installed, it doesnt loook tha bad, whadda you guys think?













Last words, the reel feel good considering the way it look when I opened it up.
at least all bearings should have been installed new, but surprisingly even the pinion bearing felt good after opened and cleaned, still I would have toss them and put new ones, well the spool spins freely on freespool, the high and low speed work as expected but I feel a gearing sound on high and feel some resistance on the handle on high drag settings (I didnt checked the drag readings, it was pretty late when I finish with this reel) but since I dont own a reel like this I dont know if its normal to feel that resistance on the handle, I need to check the drag numbers later, the reel lost some of the shiny color and now wears a two color coat, mate light gold and deep shiny gold color, has some tiny and not so tiny corrosion spots here and there which seems to dont affect the mechanical work on the reel, that said, I dont know how it will perform on a demanding job as fishing for a tuna or big grouper and on my mind that will be the only way to estimate a good price for the reel.

 

[Keta]

Other than the sand and barnacles I have received reels to repair with far more corrosion that never spent time on the bottom of the sea.

[oldmanjoe]

That was a good save !!!

[ExcessiveAngler]

I'll have to admit Alex, I am thoroughly impressed you got that reel working!  Man I bet you had to put a lot of elbow grease into that, nice job!
Just goes to show the quality of those penn reels!
I caught a penn battle 5000 that look like it had been down there forever lol!
Couldn't even tell, there was a reel in the slop that I pulled up lol!
I did take it all apart and cleaned it up, and only had to replace two things!
I turned right around and sold it, at the same pier that I got it from lol!

[David Hall]

Thats a reel with a rich history.  excellant job bringing it back to life.

[boon]

I've seen reels on charter gamefishing boats that looked a lot rougher than that. Nice job on the restoration.
It'll be interesting to see how the anodising holds up or if the whole thing dissolves like an Aspirin in the next couple of years.

[Hardy Boy]

Nice work. It cleaned up well. I found a Calcutta while I was snorkeling in Cabo and it was filled with sand just like that. It really gets in there. Well done.

Todd

[Mjg378]

Really Great job, WAY more than just clean it up make it work!!
Mike

[redsetta]

Great work Alex!
Absolutely agree with David:

"That's a reel with a rich history.  excellent job bringing it back to life."

[Shark Hunter]

Great Work Amigo!

[pointbob]

what was your technique of cleaning the corroded parts? dremel? ultrasonic cleaner? wow.

[Bryan Young]

Nice work Alex and great quality Penn to come back from the dead like that.

[thorhammer]

Great save, amigo!

[Brewcrafter]

Lots of work, and great job bringing back a reel that will always be good for lots of stories when the fishing is slow. - john 

[josa1]

Thanks for the post.  Good work!