15 reels recovered from a muddy marina bottom.

[Christopher M Songer]

These 15 reels were in a dock box that ended up in the canal. No flow, silt filled for 48 to 96 hours. You can see some mud on the handle grips. They came to me today unwashed or rinsed.

Should I run fresh water over them and soak in a bucked of fresh water?
Perhaps remove the spools and put them one at a time in my ultra sonic?

I know all the bearings will need extra attention.

Just have not had this kinda thing come up before.

Just looking for a effective starting place.

[steelfish]

I would take all the line out from the spools and give them a very good rinse all over the sides of the reels with the hose and start working on them asap.

[Gfish]

FW or brackish? Not SW, right?
Myself, I'd FW/baking soda soak 'em ASAP, then see what you have with a disassembly on one of 'em. Where is the H2O hiding where it will eventually cause damage?

[MarkT]

All those levelwinds with line counters... were they from a charter boat?

[Christopher M Songer]

Charter boat, fresh water. My concern is if I do one at a time like I usually do the last 5 may sit for another 2 weeks. I do not want to spend the next week and rush through these and some will be last and some will be first.

[cbar45]

Do those have instant anti-reverse? If so I'd start by pulling the right side plate and removing the handle, star, and ARB for all the reels. Clean each ARB of silt and contaminants then proceed as usual.

[Benni3]

This might sound stupid,,but my friend got a gallon of wd40 to soak his tools that was in a fire and I have been using this stuff for rust

[Keta]

I would put them in a bucket of fresh water and pull them out as you service them.

[JasonGotaProblem]

My biggest concern would be those line counters. From what I understand they're quite tricky to service.

[Keta]

"quite tricky to service" = PIA

[Christopher M Songer]

I got them 26 hrs ago and took 2 apart this morning. Business as usual. All are dry as a bone leading me to think this occurred long ago. There is light mud outside and inside in a few places. Does not appear to need anything special. Will replace parts as needed anyway. So far, the line counters seem OK.
I feared the worse but really not too bad. I even have to clean the inside of the counter lens.

[alantani]

i don't think that any of this is going to end well.  good luck!!!!

[Rancanfish]

What Lee said. Put them in a bucket(s) with fresh water and pull them as you go.