Hi everyone. I'm still in Mexico and in between fishing trips I have been stripping down reels for people. I have noticed on these plastic reels that 3 out of the 5 PENN Squall 50VSW, I've had here to clean & oil, have cracks in the endplate. On closer examination, I've realized the side plate does not fit INTO the frame like the internationals. Rather the endplate sits on top of the frame. Coupled with the fact,it is slightly concaved and this side plate has no metal inserts in the 2 screw holes that hold the harness lugs in place. Just take a look when you dismantle and you will see the problem. Any tension at all on those two long screws forces the plastic endplate to spread or squash. The short screws can be tightened down snugly because they can only go so far before the metal insert bottoms them out. Not so with the 2 long screws. I will add a drop of blue locktight to those screws. Especially now that some plates are cracked already and absolutely any tension widens the crack. These reels will never see a second generation of fishermen unless the current owner is 80 years old.
Adios
Greg