My in laws went to Florida for vacation and did some fishing while there two weeks ago. When I asked what they were using to fish with in saltwater, they replied the combos we bought them for their anniversary two years ago. Keep in mind these were a lady Zebco 202 and Rhino spincast. They didn't rinse them, threw them in the trunk and asked me to look at them when they tried fishing this past weekend. I reluctantly agreed to clean them and luckily somehow, I helped them survive. I spent 5 hours cleaning very simple reels and rods. Let's hear some horror stories.
I feel your pain brother......the worst I have had was an Airex Spinster, the gear case was filled with axle grease......miserable stuff, and when I tried to re-assemble found lots of part were missing......couldnt save it.....Bill
I don't think any that I have ever worked on where or are pointless, bringing something back to as nearly good as new as possible is a fun challenge and since I'm not in it for anything other than the pure enjoyment. I have to vote none. Now the story would be different and there would have been several I would have sent back. I got a cheap Jc penny levelwimd that was probably 40 years old and had never been cleaned. It probably cost less than 10 bucks New and wouldn't be worth even that new today. I would have sent him home with a Penn and tossed that one he had in the trash. As it turned out not even I could believe how clean and nice it came out after a good and thorough cleaning and lubing. The owner was very impressed and so happy he made me a custom filet knife and sheath.
Don't know that this was the hardest reel to service, but it did take a while.
Bought for $30.00 originally for parts and then you think if maybe you could just get this thing working it would be nice.
josa1
Quote from: David Hall on June 23, 2017, 03:21:26 AM
I don't think any that I have ever worked on where or are pointless, bringing something back to as nearly good as new as possible is a fun challenge and since I'm not in it for anything other than the pure enjoyment. I have to vote none. Now the story would be different and there would have been several I would have sent back. I got a cheap Jc penny levelwimd that was probably 40 years old and had never been cleaned. It probably cost less than 10 bucks New and wouldn't be worth even that new today. I would have sent him home with a Penn and tossed that one he had in the trash. As it turned out not even I could believe how clean and nice it came out after a good and thorough cleaning and lubing. The owner was very impressed and so happy he made me a custom filet knife and sheath.
I wasn't really trying to insinuate that any of what we do is pointless, it is rewarding to save a reel from being trash. However there are times it feels like you could just throw it away and buy them a new one for the time spent or parts replaced. Sometimes reels have sentimental value, then I understand. If you can go buy the same one for $20 then it feels like a waste of invested time for me.
Josa1, I scored an ambassadeur 7000c3 (Taiwan made) a year or so ago, not working for about $25 off ebay, it was listed as parts or not working. After two days of cleaning and polishing and a set of new drags, I still fish that reel today. It's not the prettiest reel but it still works great and I don't think I replaced a single thing other than drag washers. It looks like a previous owner used a steel brush to clean the salt deposits of the aluminum side plates. ;D
posted this a few years back. The guys in my fishing club dragged this up from the bottom of the river and challenged me to fix it. Didn't replace a part and it worked perfect.
I've seen a lot of ambassadeurs basically resurrected from the dead. Quite a few didn't even need parts. Good work Larry!
Here's the 7000c3 I was posting about earlier. It was almost all green and wouldn't turn. Now it's a catfish and striper Slayer. ;D
I did notice when I put blue grease on the parts that lost anodizing it gave them a light blue stain. ;)