Reel Repair by Alan Tani

It's May full moon & the bream are bedding , I know we all have these nice vintage reels,but yesterday I got 100 crickets got on my floating dock and went to the shallow end.I caught 20 in 30 mins.It never gets old even at 61! I think it's probably the most fun simple in/out.Sometimes when I go to bed I still see visions of the cork(strike indicator) going under.I usually set the hook before that happens though if I see the cork dancing or going sideways

Quote from: Reeltyme on May 23, 2024, 04:30:46 PM...
I enjoy the quiet time. No music, no TV, just my thoughts and a reel in need. I find it very relaxing. Sometimes challenging and sometimes even frustrating, but I seem to always make it work.
Randy McConnell
Reeltyme

Exactly.

As always beautiful work Alex! It looks to be an older Sabre rod. On your repaint application do you use a rattle can to apply or air brush?

Quote from: jurelometer on April 30, 2024, 06:47:44 PMNice!  A very light reel for the size. 

I'd check with Van Staal about getting some backup seals - the bottom one too, not just the o-ring.  This is what eventually fails on these "sealed"reels with a one way bearing.  These reels were made in China for Van Staal for just a couple years, and no schematic, or even product mention on their web site, so finding parts might get tricky as time passes. Freshwater only use should get you a longer lifespan on these reels.

You can see the seals in this video:

https://bearsden.com/blogs/how-to/how-to-change-the-retrieve-on-a-van-staal-vf-series-reel


Personally, I'd take the Abel, but not at that price either.  Simple cork drag designs  don't get the respect they deserve.
 
Now go out a catch another slab!  With the crowds you are drawing, I expect that you will be attracting  some tackle company sponsors soon. 

-J

It's got more parts than expected,,,,,, like pins with springs and I need the get back up seals and any other parts that I can get my hands on,,,, I put a light coat of cal's 2 speed grease on the 10 drag washers and other stuff,,,,,

More than my wife can understand.
I just need a couple more 

Nice job alex, that blue really pops
Looks like an old rock cod rod, the cord section was for a rail plate.

this was a special rebuild job, its made for a guy that wanted to have this rod ready for this next father's day, this rod belongs to his father who was a deckhand on a offshore sportfishing mothership boat for many years, now his father is retired and still enjoy fishing with the local panga captains along with his son, this guy told me his father really enjoyed one fishing rod that was giving to him on the 70's (around that time era) but since many years its not fishable because it was on bad shape and missing some guides, he asked me to leave the roller tip but change the rest of the guides, check the last two pictures, the foregrips are BLUE hypalon but they looked black when they left me the fishing rod
so, this rod will be a surprise gift for his father in few weeks more.

Annoyingly the schematic just lists the spool+shaft+bearing/bushing as a single part because they treat it as non-serviceable. Too many spool shafts get bent by people using inappropriate tools to get the pin out.

Just to muddy the waters - my 400B had a bushing, I don't know what year it was sorry.

Thanks!  Hope these help.

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