twisted reel seat

pbb · March 19, 2016, 07:53:15 PM

I just bought an old custom rod built on a Sabre blank on ebay. In addition to probably needing the varnish redone on the wraps, I realized the reel seat is twisted about 10-15 degrees clockwise. Not loose, just twisted.

Here's a link to a pic from the ebay listing:

I'm not interested in making it pretty. I just want something fairly robust to use for kayak fishing.

Anyway, I am wondering about how best to get it back in line with the guides.

I"m thinking of applying heat and then trying to twist it back (probably putting a crappy reel I don't care about much in the seat to try to get some leverage).

The seat is a Fuji FPS-D22:

Any thoughts?

Bryan Young · March 19, 2016, 08:20:37 PM

heat gun in low heat setting or maybe boiling water to soften the resin. The problem is that the resin will not resent and you will likely have to drill a few holes in the reel seat to pour or inject epoxy into the empty spaces to hold the reel seat in place.

cbar45 · March 19, 2016, 10:27:48 PM

x10 on what Bryan said.

If indeed the seat has been glued in that position, your options are to either loosen and re-glue the seat, or re-wrap the guides.

For re-gluing a seat I use a monoject 412 syringe and flex-coat liquid epoxy adhesive.

Procedure is to drill 2-3 holes the same width as the tip of the syringe, (usually 5/64).

These holes are bored in the groove you usually find on the back of the reel seat.

Spacing is such that the you (hopefully) bore between the arbors rather than into them, stop drilling before you hit the blank.

Next step is to mix up a batch of epoxy, pour it into the syringe, then inject it into the holes previously bored.

Rotate the rod horizontally, evenly distributing the epoxy around the blank's circumference, them stand it up vertically to dry overnight.

If you wish you can go even further and mix some graphite-colored marbling pigment with a paste-type epoxy and plug up the holes.

I should point out that this type of repair is not as thorough as completely removing the seat, and installing a new one.

It is, however, something that will work in a pinch--and in some cases good for the life of the rod.

P.S.
With so minimal of an offset, I would actually try fishing the rod the way it is and go from there. Chances are it won't make much difference in how it fishes, but if it does then you can go ahead with your plan on re-aligning the seat.

Chad

Bryan Young · March 19, 2016, 10:28:52 PM

Mahalos Chad. Always kokua for us less versed peeps like me. Mahalo.

Newell Nut · March 20, 2016, 12:07:38 AM

The fastest fix is to cut it off and the butt foam. Epoxy and new seat and a new slick butt. An afternoon project by someone with tools and experience and fish the next day.

cbar45 · March 20, 2016, 12:36:09 AM

Quote from: Newell Nut on March 20, 2016, 12:07:38 AM
The fastest fix is to cut it off and the butt foam. Epoxy and new seat and a new slick butt. An afternoon project by someone with tools and experience and fish the next day.

I've never installed a cylindrical seat from the bottom-up, though I see how it could be possible depending on the blank's taper.

Even so, all the seats I've cut off had an I.D. smaller than the O.D. of the rod's butt section (at the very end); they were installed from the top-down as is the norm.

Those old glass Sabres had fairly thick bottom sections, but if he can somehow get a size #22 seat to fit from the bottom, then that would certainly be easier than removing all the guides--and installing the new seat from the top.

However, if the butt section's O.D. requires sliding on a seat larger than a #22 from the bottom, the end result might not fit flush with the foregrip.

STRIPER LOU · March 20, 2016, 12:45:19 AM

I had the same problem with one of my rods. The rod was a clunker but for some reason it just turned out to be a great rod for diamond jigging. The boys here are the real experts on this stuff and I just play with it. I tried the easy way first by drilling holes and injecting epoxy. I didn't get that lucky and it only held for about a month. Of course Dwight's method will work without a doubt.

Did mine just a little differently as I went with materials I had on hand. Cut the EVA foam off, removed and replaced the seat. On the butt end I had some thicker cork tape. Wound it on the length of the butt for a little thickness and then covered it with diamond pattern shrink wrap. Everything was done from the butt end. Tried it out a few times and no problems. A few weeks after I dressed it off with some thread and was good to go. Maybe a coupe hours work. Its definitely not in the class of repairs the guys here would do but I was quite surprised and it looked pretty decent.

If you do use the shrink wrap make sure your prep work is good as any imperfections you leave behind will show thru.
regards, .. Lou

pbb · March 20, 2016, 01:03:38 AM

Quote from: cbar45 on March 19, 2016, 10:27:48 PM

P.S.
With so minimal of an offset, I would actually try fishing the rod the way it is and go from there. Chances are it won't make much difference in how it fishes, but if it does then you can go ahead with your plan on re-aligning the seat.

Thanks. I was thinking this might be the best short term option. Especially if I pair it with a level-wind reel.

And thanks also for the more detailed description of longer-term fix.

SoCalAngler · March 20, 2016, 02:11:39 AM

IMO if your going to re-varnish the wraps and the reel seat is not right I would just go the whole 9 yards and have the rod rewrapped, install a new reel seat and replace the hypalon. I know it's for use on the yak and you don't want to dump money into it but sometimes it is just better to bite the bullet, spend a few more bucks up front then have to have to deal with other issues as they come down the line.

If you go with this method you should not have any issues for many years to come if ever if you take care of the rod. But if you roll the yak and loose the rod...well that's another story but that rod should be pretty bitchen if you have it redone.

Edit: Give old Sabre's new life.

redfish12 · March 20, 2016, 01:29:12 PM

I've done something similar to what striper lou said and it's super easy and effective. The gimbal on your rod may be tough but you can probably heat it or sharpen a small flat head and scrape it off depending on how close the fit is to the blank. To cut the reel seat off I use a small hack saw on an angle and spiral up around the blank. Use a flat head screw driver, insert into the cut, and twist. It should pop right off from the glue. You can then remove the glue and arbors with a razor blade or a sharp knife, just avoid digging into the blank. Put the new arbors on and then use something like U-40 rod bond to mount your seat. It's an easy to work with paste and has an excellent hold.

You'd probably be better off buying a seat after you can measure the end of the blank so you can ensure you can slide it up from the end. It looks like a fuji DPSM would be a good replacement for that seat.

For the rear grip I used cork tape and then covered with x-flock shrink grip and it turned out well. On one refit the thinner rear handle was bothering me so I added some additional grip with seiners twine and it made it more comfortable.