So, I have a good collection of these Quick reels and I am ready to start putting some line on some of them and fish. I have been noticing lately some of these reels on ebay have cracked spools (be careful and look close at pics before bidding!) I got one myself. How do you prevent the spool from cracking? Should I use strictly braid? Back it with some braid first then finish off the spool with mono?
Replace the plastic spool with one made of metal-proved 100% effective.
Use a backing or spool arbor/filler. Dacron works great for backing. Do not fill the entire spool with mono as it stretches & then shrinks later. Also, try to avoid plastic spools loaded with excessive from being stored in a cold winter environment. That adds to the mono shrinkage.
Quote from: Beachmaster on January 12, 2020, 03:06:34 AM
How do you prevent the spool from cracking? Should I use strictly braid? Back it with some braid first then finish off the spool with mono?
Yes...using a braided line is a good deterrent to keep plastic spools from cracking...but I don't think mono is cracking so many of these spinning reel spools...as most of them don't have a large enough capacity to hold all the loops necessary to cause implosion. I think most are cracked simply from rough handling. A spinning reel's spool is more exposed to damage than a casting reel's. 8)
Quote from: whalebreath on January 12, 2020, 03:11:37 AM
Replace the plastic spool with one made of metal-proved 100% effective.
I don't think you can get a replacement metal spool for all of the Quick reels?
Mine is cracked but I just ignore it. The line seems to bind everything together just fine. I'd be proud to have enough action/excitement to make it explode.
-steve
Quote from: mo65 on January 12, 2020, 03:38:22 AM
Quote from: Beachmaster on January 12, 2020, 03:06:34 AM
How do you prevent the spool from cracking? Should I use strictly braid? Back it with some braid first then finish off the spool with mono?
Yes...using a braided line is a good deterrent to keep plastic spools from cracking...but I don't think mono is cracking so many of these spinning reel spools...as most of them don't have a large enough capacity to hold all the loops necessary to cause implosion. I think most are cracked simply from rough handling. A spinning reel's spool is more exposed to damage than a casting reel's. 8)
Mike,
Speaking from experience before the culprit was uncovered, and I know this to be true with ABU & Zebco Cardinal 4 & sometimes 3 spools, although I've never had a 3 break.
About 25 years ago Dacron was hard to find so I though I'd be smart and back my spools with cheap KMart mono. Well everything was fine throughout that summer. It was a very cold winter & the reels, on rods, wintered in the rod storage compartment in my boat, in my garage. All of the spools were in great condition and had always been covered when not in use and I never abuse my fishing equipment, it's too expensive for this poor boy. The next spring when I went fishing for the first time, to my surprise & dismay, 4 of the Cardinal 4 spools had their faces popped off. Luckily I had a few black skirted graphite spool 4s in there, too, so we were able to fish. It was a few years before guys figured out that filling the spool with only mono was the culprit. I no longer spool more than 125 yds of mono on any of my plastic or graphite spools and haven't had a face pop off since. I use Dacron for backing but anything that won't stretch would suffice.
Obviously it takes a lot less wraps than I thought. Now that I think about it...another factor that would increase the spinning reels chance at disaster is the weight of the line. The lighter the mono...the more the stretch! I guess even a tiny spool of 4lb. could fall victim. :-\
Quote from: Midway Tommy on January 12, 2020, 08:52:40 PM
Quote from: mo65 on January 12, 2020, 03:38:22 AM
Quote from: Beachmaster on January 12, 2020, 03:06:34 AM
How do you prevent the spool from cracking? Should I use strictly braid? Back it with some braid first then finish off the spool with mono?
Yes...using a braided line is a good deterrent to keep plastic spools from cracking...but I don't think mono is cracking so many of these spinning reel spools...as most of them don't have a large enough capacity to hold all the loops necessary to cause implosion. I think most are cracked simply from rough handling. A spinning reel's spool is more exposed to damage than a casting reel's. 8)
Mike,
Speaking from experience before the culprit was uncovered, and I know this to be true with ABU & Zebco Cardinal 4 & sometimes 3 spools, although I've never had a 3 break.
About 25 years ago Dacron was hard to find so I though I'd be smart and back my spools with cheap KMart mono. Well everything was fine throughout that summer. It was a very cold winter & the reels, on rods, wintered in the rod storage compartment in my boat, in my garage. All of the spools were in great condition and had always been covered when not in use and I never abuse my fishing equipment, it's too expensive for this poor boy. The next spring when I went fishing for the first time, to my surprise & dismay, 4 of the Cardinal 4 spools had their faces popped off. Luckily I had a few black skirted graphite spool 4s in there, too, so we were able to fish. It was a few years before guys figured out that filling the spool with only mono was the culprit. I no longer spool more than 125 yds of mono on any of my plastic or graphite spools and haven't had a face pop off since. I use Dacron for backing but anything that won't stretch would suffice.
Mike, I have a partial spool of 50 lb Dacron. Would that be too large of a diameter to use on say a Quick 285 or 330? If it's ok, how much should I put on before tying in the mono?
Good info from Mike & Tommy. You want to build a little flex in on the spool. Heavy Dacron should work, but you might have some trouble tying it to a much smaller diameter mono; workaround for that is to just use the Dacron as an arbor and don't tie the mono to it, but just tie the mono to the spool with a Uni or whatever just as though you were tying it directly to the spool.
Frank
I use 12lb Dacron. It seems to be a good size for even line lay and tying.
Quote from: Beachmaster on January 12, 2020, 11:27:28 PM
Mike, I have a partial spool of 50 lb Dacron. Would that be too large of a diameter to use on say a Quick 285 or 330? If it's ok, how much should I put on before tying in the mono?
Yep, that sounds a bit large for the 285/330, might want to save that for a larger reel. Most folks like to fill about 1/3 to 1/2 the spool with backing, just as long as that doesn't interfere with your fishing. Most times, if I have 100yds. of "useable" line on the reel I'm good. The first time I bottom fished on the Atlantic I was horrified that I needed to fill the ENTIRE spool with fresh new line. It was a real step outside the box for a guy who grew up fishing in 10 feet of water. 8)
Quote from: mo65 on January 13, 2020, 03:00:29 PM
The first time I bottom fished on the Atlantic I was horrified that I needed to fill the ENTIRE spool with fresh new line. It was a real step outside the box for a guy who grew up fishing in 10 feet of water. 8)[/color]
I'm with you! That, my friend, would be one heck of an eye opening experience. Oahe is over 200 feet deep, but we never fished deeper than 30 feet. I wouldn't even begin to know how to tackle something like that. ;D
Quote from: oc1 on January 12, 2020, 06:20:50 AM
I'd be proud to have enough action/excitement to make it explode.
-steve
Ha ha.. good one Steve. Dominick
Quote from: Midway Tommy on January 12, 2020, 03:33:09 AM
Use a backing or spool arbor/filler. Dacron works great for backing. Do not fill the entire spool with mono as it stretches & then shrinks later. Also, try to avoid plastic spools loaded with excessive from being stored in a cold winter environment. That adds to the mono shrinkage.
Hmmm. That explains why the original cork filler still on one of my 331 spools is so much smaller and harder than it was 45 years ago when I first installed it. The plastic filler that came with the other spool is smaller too, but not so much. I thought it was just because they're old.
On the plus side though, none of my plastic spools are cracked at all. A bit off-color maybe, but then so am I...
Quote from: happyhooker on January 13, 2020, 02:44:30 AM
Good info from Mike & Tommy. You want to build a little flex in on the spool. Heavy Dacron should work, but you might have some trouble tying it to a much smaller diameter mono; workaround for that is to just use the Dacron as an arbor and don't tie the mono to it, but just tie the mono to the spool with a Uni or whatever just as though you were tying it directly to the spool.
Frank
I just went back through and read and I guess I missed this. This sounds like a good idea! Where is Fred...he hasn't chimed in on this. I did read in some past posts that he made a few years back about not using braid on these plastic spools but is fine to use on the metal spools. I am confused! But, I like this idea here of using the Dacron I have as an "arbor".
All braided fishing line is not the same.
The first braided line was made of nylon. That was before monofilament nylon. The braided nylon (now known as "squidding line") is even more stretchy than the monofilament nylon so it had a propensity to warp of break spools.
Braided Dacron came along shortly after braided nylon. Braided Dacron will hardly stretch at all. It can be spooled as tight as you want and will not hurt the spool. However, Dacron is abraded very easily so it cannot be used anyplace it will come into contact with the bottom or structure. It is mainly for trolling.
Monofilament nylon (now known as "mono") came along next. Mono it still too stretchy to use for filling a spool because it will build up pressure and may damage the spool.
Then came braided spectra or dyneema which is ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE), now known as "braid". Like Dacron, Spectra braid does not stretch at all and can be used to fill a spool.
So, if you prefer the feel, performance and stretchiness of nylon (either braided nylon or monofilament nylon) then you should only use it as a top shot. Pack the spool with Dacron or Spectra braid and then wind on a top shot of your favorite nylon. The top shot can be as long as you would normally use for fishing. The Dacron or Spectra braid backing is there for serious catching and also to provide a cushion that will prevent the nylon from warping the spool.
The top shot can be tied directly to the backing. Or, the backing can be covered with tape and the nylon tied on top of the tape. It just depends on how likely you are to need the backing for fighting a fish.
-steve
Quote from: oc1 on January 19, 2020, 04:31:19 AM
All braided fishing line is not the same.
The first braided line was made of nylon. That was before monofilament nylon. The braided nylon (now known as "squidding line") is even more stretchy than the monofilament nylon so it had a propensity to warp of break spools.
Braided Dacron came along shortly after braided nylon. Braided Dacron will hardly stretch at all. It can be spooled as tight as you want and will not hurt the spool. However, Dacron is abraded very easily so it cannot be used anyplace it will come into contact with the bottom or structure. It is mainly for trolling.
Monofilament nylon (now known as "mono") came along next. Mono it still too stretchy to use for filling a spool because it will build up pressure and may damage the spool.
Then came braided spectra or dyneema which is ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE), now known as "braid". Like Dacron, Spectra braid does not stretch at all and can be used to fill a spool.
So, if you prefer the feel, performance and stretchiness of nylon (either braided nylon or monofilament nylon) then you should only use it as a top shot. Pack the spool with Dacron or Spectra braid and then wind on a top shot of your favorite nylon. The top shot can be as long as you would normally use for fishing. The Dacron or Spectra braid backing is there for serious catching and also to provide a cushion that will prevent the nylon from warping the spool.
The top shot can be tied directly to the backing. Or, the backing can be covered with tape and the nylon tied on top of the tape. It just depends on how likely you are to need the backing for fighting a fish.
-steve
thanks steve that clears it up for me with a couple more questions. I have some 50# Magicbraid from BPS which is braided Dacron, but I think may be large of a diameter to use as backing on my 285/330 Quicks but probably would be fine for my 441/550 Quicks? My only other question is, what is the best way to attach the braid to the spool to keep it from slipping? Layer of electrical tape or first aid tape, then tie the braid with arbor knot?
I tie all my Dacron directly to the spool with a slip knot in the direction so that it is being pulled tight while spooling line. I have never ever had line slip on the spool using a slip knot. I tie my 125 yds of mono to the Dacron with a regular ol' knot, but then I've never even come close to spending all my mono. Keep in mind, though, that mine is used exclusively for freshwater fishing and I seldom fish deeper than 30 feet.
Quote from: Beachmaster on January 19, 2020, 04:58:12 AM
way to attach the braid to the spool to keep it from slipping?
I throw clove hitches onto the spool in the direction that tightens them as the drag is pulled.
-steve
I use an arbor knot