convert an okuma nomad travel rod to deckhand style grip?

Started by jurelometer, September 15, 2015, 11:30:33 PM

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jurelometer

This is the "light/ML" three piece casting model-  stiff/fast taper.   I use for it tossing jigs to yellowtail, typically 40-50lb mono.

The grips are thick and firm- so thick that my hands cramp up.   It has a very high quality and popular reel seat-the triangular Alps- which I don't like.  Plus the Alps seat is too wide for some of my reels.  And there is the ginormous gimbal-butt...


I also want the rod to be as light and compact as possible for travel.   I was thinking about stripping down the but section and redoing it with a deckhand grip- maybe cork tape. 

This would mean removing the grips, gimbal-butt and reel seat.  Assume that I can use a heat gun to loosen the epoxy on the Al parts, and just cut/grind off the grips.  Don't know how tough it would be to get it back to a smooth blank.

I have built and repaired rods- nothing that I would show-off (or even show :) ) to Mr. Vadney, but functional.  I think I have the basic skills, plus plenty of tools to make damage with :)


The other alternative would be to find a new home for this rod, and buy the cheaper xpress version of the rod that has a graphite reel seat and hopefully smaller grips.   I don't think there are travel blanks in this size, so building a rod from scratch would be out of the question.


So...

Good idea?   Bad Idea?  Too much work?  Any tips or alternatives?

-J

Steve-O

I've done it a couple of times. Not really that hard to do. You pretty described what I did. Is mine beautiful? No. Does it function? Yes. And catches fish as good as anything i've ever bought.

Rods are IMO built once and for the most part should stay that way. When reel seats break free they can be drilled and re-epoxied in place. And so on...

What you aim to do is totally deconstruct the rod and rebuild the blank to your needs and I would say for the experience....go for it! It takes time and is messy. But not that hard. Go slow when you get down to the blank to not gouge it. You may need some spacers or do dads on the rebuild. Maybe google it. Look at a rod building supplier for what you want to go back on to it. Keep the spine oriented from tear down to rebuild.

You can do it. Just decide how much the doing is worth vs replacing it.
Good luck whichever way you go.


Edit- and maybe a real rod builder will chime in with good advice. ;D

MarkT

When I was your age Pluto was a planet!

Jeri

Hi J,

I thought I answered this query.

The project is quite a worthy exercise, and I make the following observation:

1.   You might be careful of using a heat gun to soften the resin under the aluminium components, as it would be a fine line between enough heat to soften the resin holding the aluminium and softening the core carbon fibre – you might destroy the integrity of the carbon tube with just too much heat. Safer to sacrifice the reel seat and gimbel, by cutting them off carefully with a hacksaw.
2.   Remove the EVA grips with a sharp craft knife and then clean the entire handle section of all resin and glues – carefully with the sharp craft knife. Then clean the finished length with alcohol or similar.
3.   Fit new graphite reel seat – go for a quality component like Fuji – it won't let you down in the long term.
4.   For handles spiral wrapped cork is an option, but for a slightly more grip when wet handle, the new WINN strip handle might be a nice option. It is supposed to retain texture and grip when wet and cold – also a little softer on the hands. There is a utube video on how to fit the strip handle system – to help – link of Winn web site.
5.   Finish off with a rubber/vinyl butt cap and the job is pretty much done.
6.   The only thing that I might do over and above the tape system of sealing the Winn handle is wrap that area in thread and resin to seal the ends permanently, to stop slippage in time, and stop water getting to the adhesive on the strip handle.


Hope that helps.

Cheers from sunny Africa


Jeri

jurelometer

Thanks for the encouragement everyone.   I decided to give it a try.

The gimball-butt cap was filled with resin -lots of it!    Using the heat gun here was a bit sketchy, but It came off without obvious damage. Since it as the end of the rod. I am not too worried.

After one quick pass with the heat gun, the reel seat practically fell off.     Yep- cardboard tube spacer.   This rod got dunked, so I had soaked it a bit in fresh water about three weeks ago. 

The cardboard tube spacer was still damp and falling apart.  The epoxy has not permeated beyond the surface layers .the bottom layer had already dissolved. 

Water, or even tropical humidity can always work its way between the the grip and the seat.  There is an argument to be made to keep the reel seat area as dry as possible, and definitely not to soak it,  but it is sooo easy to build a waterproof rod...  And they are used around water frequently :)

At least whatever I do will be an improvement.


jurelometer

So what do do now?

The butt-section  blank actually has a reverse taper (wider at the top then at the bottom.   Just a little, but measurable.  Diameter is .735 inch  in the middle, .725 at the butt.

I will make my own reel clamp out of aluminum, something longer than stock, but shorter than a cork puppy.

So I need to add about 1/8 to the radius.  Cork tape was the old standby, but cord wrap seems to be popular now.   The heat-shrink flocked tube or winn-grip mentioned by Jerry are also an option.   I am mostly worried about durability and the reel twisting under load.  Should probably keep comfort and grippiness as a consideration as well.  Looks not important.
I only have experience cork tape at lighter drag settings. 

Any/all opinions are welcome.   So far you guys have been righh on the money.

-J

Steve-O

Here's a curve ball to add to the mix.   And BTW, great start!

When you mentioned torque, you know what comes to mind?


ACID WRAP THOSE GUIDES !!

On my tear down, cut in half to make travel rods, that is what I did to 3 of mine.  Badda bing! No torque baby!

Not much anyway.

Just a thought.

Jeri

Hi J,

Obvious next step is to get the rest of the blank cleaned off.

Torque issues on the reel seat should not be a worry, get some old broken rod sections to make spacers to match the inside diameter of your chosen reel seat, and ream them out to suit the blank. Glue the spacers – suggest a minimum of 3, to the blank where the reel seat is gong to be sited. Any high strength 2 part resin will do the job – then once set and cured – glue/resin the reel seat into position. Torque issues with a reel seat will then be near zero – a further enhancement might be to slightly roughen the inside of the graphite reel seat before resin.

What you don't want to do is resin a reel seat over any handle material – recipe for disaster.

The benefits of either the shrink grip over cord, or Winn grips, are that they have a softer feel, and some texture to cope with wet hands. We use shrink grip on nearly all our surf rods, and to add a little extra security to the grip – we rib them first with 'O' rings glued into place, then shrink the grip over the top. It seems to last well in our abusive environment, some rods have had it on for over 5 or 6 years now – perhaps not as abusive an environment as a boat – it just depends on how you look after your rod – but equally, it is simple and quick to replace. Comfort during a fight is more important than longevity.

Hope that helps.

Cheers from sunny Africa


Jeri

jurelometer

Thanks for all the advice!

Also got some great suggestions from Jon Vadney.   I'm going to go with a cord grip anchored with some rod finish.   This got me interested in doing up a smaller travel rod with deckhand grip as well.  Using a Rainshadow blank and parts from Jon.


Will post the results if it does not come out too ugly :)

-J

jurelometer

All done.   Came out pretty good. Not perfect cosmetically, but I'm ok with that.   This ended up being a substantially improved rod.  Lighter, better balanced, and a more  sure grip.  I think the original handle components were too large for this rod.     Got my parts and a bunch of  good advice from Jon Vadney. 

It's been a while since  I held a deckhand rod.  I forgot how much more I liked them over reel seated rods.




Thanks all for the advice and encouragement.

-J

Alto Mare

Very nice job on that rod Dave, I bet it feels just as you wanted it...enjoy it!

Sal
Forget about all the reasons why something may not work. You only need to find one good reason why it will.

Steve-O

Turned out great. Bet the handle feels a lot less chunky/clunky having gone on a diet. I really like my rods ready to travel as the high mountain desert offers little in the way of salt water.....oh wait a minute...I've got the Great Salt Lake...don't have any Brine Shrimp gear though ::).. We do have sharks out in Tooele west of me...nurse sharks in some geo thermal salt water hole in the ground for scuba divers. :o