Finally waded through enough LIFE to finish Mike's (Wally15) acid wrapped UC Raptor- he wanted blues to match our skool colors, GO HEELS!!!!, and match his Mak 20. Fuji SiN guides, Alps seat and gimbal, cross fleck shrink over eva, with heavy duty tanged tip. I took off 1.5" from the tip, as this blank has a really quick transition, and applied a coat of epoxy for 1.25" directly to the blank, then installed tip, so the tang would not be against bare graphite in acid configuration. For those not familiar, the tang is basically a little bayonet sticking out from the ring side of the tip tube, for the purpose of extra "grab" area for the wrap. Mike will be using this some for bottom bouncing grouper so I went through this precaution for straight-up-and-down, lock down work. It was about to rain so I hurried pics; they don't show the variegated thread under wrap very well. He said he liked it, so I like it :)
This is another hybrid configuration- enough butt for underarm work and enough fore for standup trolling in a belt. Thanks to Jon Vadney, I bounced a lot of ideas off him, and the Alps pieces are from him (he is distributor). The dude is a great guy, and his work is art. He's really busy and we don't see enough of his work on here anymore.
Looks great !
That came out AWESOME ;D
Brett
Really nice work John, love it, cheers Don.
John, this looks great. I love the rods you build. The acid wrapped you built for me has definitely pulled up some gags with little effort. You're a great builder
Nick
Nice!
looking good broda'
Mike, now lets see a big mama grouper on that rod
Looking good! My Mak 20 SEa is on a Viper 76 but then I'm fishing for cows not grouper. I've been thinking about a Centaur 76 for my Mak 16 SEa. I recently got an Okuma PCH C-74XXXH to use with the Mak 16 or an Avet HXW Raptor. It's going on my 10 day next week with both reels.
Nice build!
The rod is awesome! Here are some pics and a closeup of the "argyle" variegated wrap that's part of the school colors/design.
John and I met at a really NC BBQ and craft brewery in downtown Fuquay-Varina NC (Aviator Smokehouse) so I could pick up the rod, and to finally meet John in person.
He also repaired a G Loomis and an All-Star rod for me. Great repair jobs on those as well. Now I just need to complete the repairs to my place on the Gulf that Michael tore up last year so I can let the "Tarheel Thrasher" meet a reef donkey. Can't decide between Mak Daddy and Tarheel Thrasher.
I'll add to the post later. I'm headed out to the deer stand. Got #5 last night. We're "thinning the herd" and I'm focusing on does and spikes.
GA Mike
Very nice rod! Now Mike put it to work!
Mike, slap your reel on there and give us a picture!
Agree! Picture with the reel, then with the fish
Just Awesome John!
Wally deserves it. He is a good Dude. ;)
Nice work John. Yes, Jon Vadney is terrific. He has helped me through a bunch of stuff. He is a great mentor. Dominick