I decided to buy a couple of vintage Penn reels for freshwater trolling.I won an auction, and purchased 2 on the auction site. I have $22.00 including shipping in the pair :) One is a Seaboy 85,the other was listed as a Beachmaster 155. Both function well but need good cleanings. My question is the 155 spool is narrower than the pictures I have seen. The sideplate is clearly marked 155,but the spool is about 1.5" inches wide at the top.Are there other possibilities for what it is? I want to upgrade the drag,and want to get the right parts. I hope these photos help :)
Looks like you could have a 180 with a 155 head plate. The 180 spool is 1 5/8 inches wide.
The reel should work OK as is, if you don`t need it any wider.
Basto
Yea, they made a couple spools that would fit the 155 side plates. My guess is that you have a 160 spool. Unfortunately, it looks like it's an early plastic spool. Those spools were notorious for exploding and **really** don't like monofilament. You might get away with fishing it with mono if you put several wraps of Dacron next to the spool but if it were me, I'd put that reel on the shelf.
Well I guess I bombed on both reels as they both have plastic spools :-[ Didn't know of the
spool problem. Need to do some research I guess. I appreciate the help! Not what I wanted to hear but such is life ;)
Quote from: hrgriz on April 17, 2017, 12:15:03 AM
Well I guess I bombed on both reels as they both have plastic spools :-[ Didn't know of the
spool problem. Need to do some research I guess. I appreciate the help! Not what I wanted to hear but such is life ;)
I use a few reels with plastic spools without problems but I have them filled with Spectra or Dacron line and 10' mono/fluro topshots. Fill the reel 3/4 or more with braid then top it off with mono and they will be OK. You can try to find an aluminum 29L-100 spool but they are getting hard to find.
I will give that a go,as I have some spools of dacron laying around! I really like the size of the
155 type reel,as we only troll for hybrids up to 20lbs in freshwater.I won't be casting them.
I leave that to my old Mitchell,and Penn spinners :) Thanks
You did good for the money.
Use the plastic spool and see what happens,. Yes, some mention that they will fail, but I have friends that still love them and know of some that are still looking for them.
If you want to convert to a metal spool, you have many options.
You do not need to keep it as a 155 width... as you could see with yours.
These Beachmasters share the same size plates with many other reels, as Monofil, Baymasters, Surfmasters and so on. You have the option to make it a narrow, midsized as the 99, or standard as the 155 .
Surfmasters have the same size plates, but will take larger gears, just in case you're interested in increasing the gears, all you need to replace is the right side plate with its inner ring.
So, when ordering a metal spool you could change the width to your liking, all you need to do is to order the stand to go with that spool, frame posts to match and you'll be set.
Sal
Sal
I love to tinker so this may turn out better than I thought !Thanks for
all the input,and help from everyone :)
There is 2 new 29L-200 aluminum spools, 1 new 29-200 plastic spool and several 30-200 stands on e-bay now if you want to restore it to stock width. You can use a 30-66 stand and a 29-150 spool , or 29-150 ("plastic"), 29M-150 (chromed brass) or 29L-150 (aluminum), they are all the same size, to make it a mid width too.
I personally would leave it narrow, fill it with Spectra and put on a 100' mono topshot, it can land almost any fresh water fish. I have caught "small" white sturgeon up to 6' with Surfmaster 100 and ABU 5600 reels.
I prefer narrow reels and usually convert wider ones to fish with, I just picked up a Baymaster 180 (close to the same reel as your narrowed 155) for salmon so I don't expose my nice Monofil 27 to saltwater.
What are you trolling for with this reel? For my needs a 180/27/100 size reel is perfect but we are trolling salmon (15-40 pounds) and for 8 pound trout in Upper Klamath Lake that averages 6' deep, Trout get over 15# in the lake but 8# is average.
This 35# Chinook was caught on a Surfmaster 100,
(http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g104/IGFA19Keta/Fish/Brookings%20Chinook%201_zpsav6ngwce.jpg) (http://s54.photobucket.com/user/IGFA19Keta/media/Fish/Brookings%20Chinook%201_zpsav6ngwce.jpg.html)
Quote from: hrgriz on April 17, 2017, 12:27:52 PM
I love to tinker so this may turn out better than I thought!
Yes...you do have many options to tinker with. Read some of the threads here pertaining to your reels...lots of great ideas around here...enjoy! 8)
I will use it trolling for hybrid stripe to 25Lbs, rockfish to 30 or 35 if I am real lucky :) Also still fishing for big flathead catfish,some run above 50 lbs in the area I fish. I think the reel will handle my needs,I will just make sure I use some type braid as a cushion for that spool.
Griz, you're spot on with that reel for the fish you are targeting. Toss in some carbon fiber drags, and spectra ad catch some fish. Let us know how this project turns out. Bill