Heavy Duty Rod Building Equipment Recommendations Please

[Squidder Bidder]

Hello Ohana after my lengthy absence.

I always expected to get into rod building at some point but it seems like my hand is being forced.

I need to make a tip repair of a Shimano Talavera 50-100# class standup rod (two piece) in my trolling arsenal. These rods are paired with the Penn 50VISX spooled with 100# hollow core and a mono topshot which is fairly standard for trolling the Canyons primarily for Yellowfin and Bigeye up here in the Northeast.

Well, when loading up the rod rack to head over to the marina, my brother hit the rod tip on a deck and out came the insert from the bent tip.

I was able to remove the tip but found that it has a "tang" that was wrapped and epoxied as additional security for the glue within the tip:



So now the repair would seem to require more than simply gluing the tip on with flexcoat in order to do it right. I think the repair will require removal of some epoxy, thread, and then gluing the tip, re-wrapping the tang and building up some epoxy over the tang.

Now, I think that the wrapping and epoxy repair will require a power wrapper and some other supplies.

Like the children's song "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" it's all started with a bent rod tip.

So my question here is which wrappers and equipment are sufficient to handle the heavy saltwater rods? I also have some 130#-Unlimited rods etc. that could need repair in the future, and have a medium-term goal of custom building some trolling rods in these classes.

Are the mudhole house brand (CRB) power wrappers and equipment suitable for these applications? Are there other alternatives?

Thanks in advance for the guidance and opinions.

[MACflyer]

Welcome back. If all you're doing is a tip and a few guides, a wrapper is not needed. A cardboard box with two notches works fine. I use a 2" piece of pvc in my bench vise to hold and turn rod. A dryer is almost a must: turning a rod by hand while the epoxy dries gets old quick.

[Swami805]

Use a high temp hot glue for the tip. Get some black thread to wrap over the tang. A box with a couple Vs cut in it will work. Some 2 part thread finish and you're set. No need to over complicate it

[JasonGotaProblem]

I like mudhole better than a majority of the rod building companies. But that CRB power wrapper is crazy overpriced. There. I said it. Moving on...

You can get a $20 dryer on Amazon if you're doing regular epoxy.

Wraps on a tip won't take too long, it's not like under wraps on a Fuji LC guide. You don't even need a box you can do it on your lap. If you're not worried about perfection you can use 5 minute epoxy on the wraps and you don't even need a power dryer. just get it on there while it's still runny. You can also mix a tiny dab of black acrylic paint in there to self explanatory effect.

FYI Justin case: Tube sizes are measured in 64ths of an inch, ring sizes are mm. Better to round up a half a size than to have to reorder.

That looks like a Fuji MN guide. I think those have the tang.

[Swami805]

You don't really need a dryer, just turn it a quarter turn every few minutes until it starts to set up. Don't put the rod finish on super thick, better to do 2 coats without it sagging

[Keta]

For this minor repair a cardboard box with slots cut in it will work well.

[steelfish]

you dont HAVE to install the very same model of tiptop, I would try to find a different rod tiptop model, something more XXH duty, probably some old stock of fuji or Forecast like this one on the picture.

the long tube on those tiptops works better (because you can fit more glue into it) to hold the tip in place than the tang/tongue that need to be wrapped, its not as complicated to install as the stock tiptop and it will support few more mistakes/hits on the deck than the stock tip.

it seems that is not as easy to find as before but asking or looking here and there you can still find them if you want to try them out.

you can go without wrapping any cosmetic thread work on the tip

I try to install those tiptops on loaner rods for local captain's boats.


Forecast "FT"  tiptop on getbitoutdoors