My buddy, as good a friend as I'll ever have, Ed Martin retired from USCG yesterday as a Chief Bosun's Mate (Boats). Besides that he is a 100 ton captain and rabid, avid outdoorsman, building rifles and rods and hunting me up deals since he still lives at the beach where my pickings inland consist of pawned Wally World tourist largemouth specials. It's pretty nice when I go on a trip and take my own captain, hard to upgrade from there. He drove us through the Devil's Backbone reef in Bahama's like a BOSS, impressing even the old salt native sons.
The Bahamas trip last month with us was a surpise to him from his wife, but she wanted something special to commemorate the occasion. So here's where I came in....He has 25 years in and didn't especially want to retire but after that time on 24's and 47's banging around his knees, hips, and shoulders are shot and he's already started surgeries at age 42. He mostly does inshore / nearshore, so no big motors needed, but loves his matched set of four 500S's I rebuilt for Spanish, Kings, and Cobia.
Time to step it up...Obviously only Cortez Classics would do...Thanks to Tom. Thanks to Randy for getting me out a set of spools on the quick as close to perfect as can be had. Drags and bits: Mo, of course. Guts courtesy of a couple of 500S warriers that still were pristine inside...chrome bridges and moly steel mains.
Handles stock Penn for the moment, but I've something in the works with one our resident mad scientists to top this off. Adam will be getting order for stars soon as well.
1- Looks like this S got too close to the cigar...but I needed the function, not the form.
2-Tools and parts boxes laid out surgical-style makes the builds so much faster.
3-S parts soaking in 50% Simple Green; came out sparkling. Biggie, I forgot to tell you to put SG on your buy list. And get a piece of peg board for your bench.
BTW, that Loctite is great for gluing together all those metal and fiber whatever washer thingies that go into the gear to keep them from slipping. Usually I use Red but I was out so Blue had to do. Don't forget to put some under the first carbontex washer so it glues to the main gear ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Ah-Ha! So it's you that's been telling people to glue the drag washers in! I can tell you a lot of people have been listening to you. ;D
The reels are looking good, Tom's work never gets old. It'll be interesting to see what handles you use.
Mike
Geez, John --
Now I know where the last 3 Jiggy's I worked on came from -- must be an East Coast thing...
Personally, I never glue in my drag washers -- however, I do on my buddies reels when we have a bet going for big fish.
It thins out the herd of large keepers -- and pays for the trip.
Good job on setting up your friend with special custom gear -- doesn't get much better than that.
Best,
Fred
You guys all see it...especially, with the old thick 113H washers...if you didn't know better you'd swear they were glued to the metals like an International drag plate...my builds get full AT, same way every time...Cal's on drags, Corrosion X in bearings, Penn Blue or marine grease on everything else, final external wipe with Penn Reel Cleaner. Guys, don't forget to take the stand foot off Tom's (or your Tib) frames and grease between foot and frame and screw holes...I have to remind myself since that comes preassembled. Then I grease the stand foot when I mount to the rod, including under the clamp. When a rig is sprayed down after fishing this is a great placed for gravity to pull salt into...that lower SS reel hood with brine pooled into around an aluminum foot is basically a battery short. Bad news as you all well know.
Fred, now you made me think...I think we may cobia fish next weekend, and for sure Ed will take these. I could fill two old brass mains with JB weld just for this trip, and swap back out when the new handles arrive ;D
Killer John.
Hmm, I thought 25 year anniversary was gold not red. 😉😁