Coastal 153h - Thanks, y'all!

[Padre]

I just finished a complete tear down, clean, lube, and reassembly of one of my Coastals. It's the first reel I've ever taken apart completely, and when all was said and done, it went back together with no leftover parts, and it works better than ever. That's all because of the generous help of this board. I had the tools and supplies I needed and the confidence to try it because I knew y'all were here to help if i got in a bind.  I took pics along the way during the tear down, laid the parts out in order, and had the schematic up on screen. Made it easy to put back.

First pic, with the schematic just visible in one corner and my daughter's water colors in the other



Here was the first deep breath moment - where I would taking out moving parts with springs and things and not just unscrewing screws or sliding stuff off the shaft.



Here's the first sign of trouble - the bearing under the tension knob showing corrosion



And then here as well, under the shaft bushing



And the shaft itself



Cleaned it all up, coated the insides with a locally made marine grease with saltwater corrosion protection, replaced the drag washers with new ones from Dawn, and put it all back together, following the advice and examples here.

It's fantastic, mostly. The drag is super smooth, way better than my other stock 153. Only problem is a couple of the bearings. The one above and one other were questionable, even after cleaning. I knew that but wanted the experience of finishing the reel. I didn't have any replacements on hand. I'll order some next week, probably get extras for my other reels, too.

Overall, I'm really pleased with myself and very, very grateful to all of you here who either answered my specific questions (Bryan especially) or who have contributed to this store of knowledge and wisdom. Most of all, thanks to Alan for having this site and for his commitment to having its content suitable for his daughter to see. Never seen that standard on another web forum, and as the father of a seven-year-old daughter, I really appreciate it.

Thanks for reading,
Kevin

[Cone]

Great job Kevin! You've just joined the dark side!  Before long your reels will be multiplying like rabbits. All your spare income will go to parts, tackle bait etc. Your wife will say " how are you ever going to fish with all those reels?" And she will blame Alan Tani!  It is a great site with exceptional people.
Bob

[Padre]

Yes, I found myself today looking at Penn Senators for sale. A112H with narrow spool...