Hello everyone, I have a set of Ahabs in the 8 and 12 sizes. Can the cork drag washer be replaced with Carbontex? I didn't see anything on the Smooth Drag site. Thanks very much.
it's a nightmare. not sure if anyone here has any practice at it. the thickness of the carbon fiber is different than that cork, so you might have spacing issues. you would have to chisel off the cork, then clean the surface of the pressure plate, cut the carbon fiber washer from a sheet, epoxy it on and hope the spacing is ok. not sure who here would be up to the task. it's asking alot. it's probably a 1 week project. :-\
Ouch!
Thanks for the input Alan. I think I'll stay with the original. It's not broke so don't fix it.
maybe take measurements of your, drag washers & old canvas washer, then you can work out how thick, your CF needs to be, you may have to stick two CF washers together with epoxy, to make up the correct thickness, good luck, cheers Don.
I'll do it. At an hourly rate.
I fish with both an 8 and a 12. Haven't had a bit of a problem with the cork drags. Changing to the carbon drag might or might not be a problem, haven't considered it before but check the distance of travel on the spool skirt to see if it can accommodate a thinner drag washer. It could also affect line stack on the spool. Good luck either way!
Sorry for the late update. I took out the cork washer and replaced it with 2 carbons and a thin stainless in between. Cals grease and put her back together. Initial test on the hard seem to do good. I'll have better input after Baja fish get a hold of it. Tight lines and thank you for the input.
I don't think I'd do it. The reel was designed for the cork drags. Too much drag is going to break something. Parts are getting very hard to come by for these reels.
i would be concerned that the stuttering, sticky cork drag would cause surges in pressure that would be more likely cause damage.
Quote from: alantani on November 02, 2024, 05:13:30 PMi would be concerned that the stuttering, sticky cork drag would cause surges in pressure that would be more likely cause damage.
Properly lubricated cork drags do not stutter and are not sticky. But they do need more routine cleaning and lubrication than carbon fiber. If you get grease on them that gets a bit dirty or oxidized, you will see the bad behavior.
Some of the benefits of cork drag include a high coefficient of friction (less clamping load for the same amount of drag), excellent vibration absorption, and a bit of flexing when starting from a dead stop, which works as a shock absorber. Cork can also work as a drag surface against aluminum, which would get chewed up by carbon fiber. this allows the use of the side of the spool as a drag surface, eliminating the need for a metal drag disk in some designs. And unlike highly conductive carbon fiber, cork is is not conductive, so it does not contribute to galvanic corrosion.
Cork takes up quite a bit of volume per drag surface, and has a lower max temperature, so I would be less inclined to be excited about using it in a big game reel, but if you are willing to maintain it correctly it makes a fine drag material.
There are still some high end reels (including new designs) that use cork for its special properties, but less and less over time. I probably would not use cork if I were designing a reel from scratch nowadays, but I don't think that cork should be treated like some sort of malignancy that needs to be surgically removed from every reel that we find it in. In some cases it could even be a step backwards, since the reel was designed to use cork which has a different set of properties.
There was an fly reel made by Hayden that had the option of cork or carbon fiber. According to Terry Hayden, the cork version performed better, but there was customer demand for carbon fiber anyways.
My $0.02
-J
Quote from: alantani on November 02, 2024, 05:13:30 PMi would be concerned that the stuttering, sticky cork drag would cause surges in pressure that would be more likely cause damage.
I've never had that problem Alan. But then again, I have a stack of factory washers and change them as necessary.