Purchased my first Penn Z series reel (720) and I have a couple of questions.

[philaroman]

None of them, I was saying IF the Z's had the skirted spools. With a good machinist I don't see why it couldn't be done, but I'm sure it wouldn't be cheap.

wouldn't a DAM 5000/5001 be way cheaper & a little better? this 4000 seems almost reasonable:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/DAM-Quick-4000-Spinning-Reel-Good-Condition-Left-Hand-crank-on-right-side-BH/142691522947?hash=item213913d983:g:Tx4AAOSwFEpahflt

[Jenx]

Got her out on the water today for the first time. I didn't catch anything, but she cast great and I had no problems with the braid.

[mo65]

   Good show Jenx.

[Swami805]

Looks like  nice day for fishing, where is that?

[Jenx]

Thanks.

That was Nicholson Point, in La Jolla.

The bite was slow, and the surf was full of salad, but the weather was nice, and I can think of many worse things than watching a beach sunset while fishing.

[philaroman]

Jenx,

I don't really know Penn (or maybe it's a weird photo angle), but that looks like:

bent bail arm
line off-center on the roller
causing significant line-twist

...hope I'm wrong, or you fix it before you hook up w/ something sizeable!
(look at Fred's reel & manual drawings for correct angle)

[oc1]

It's not a bent bail arm.  It's a worn or bent bail release arm (28) or a bail arm (34) that is worn down where it slams against the bail release arm.  That lets the bail arm travel a bit too far so the roller is no longer parallel to the spool. The other models (716 up to 700) have a bail arm bumper.  The bumper is then the first thing to be worn down.

Line rollers do not prevent twists.  The twists are inherent in the way line is wrapped around the spool on a spinning reel.  The line roller only spaces the twists out evenly and minimizes line abrasion.  The older and less expensive style without a line roller (only a bend in the bail wire) do not have more line twists than modern reels.
-steve

[Jenx]

Just a quick update:

I took this reel out surf fishing five straight days. As posted above I was skunked the first trip, but over the next four days I spent about 12-13 total hours in the surf with 61 surf perch caught over that span. Most weren't very big, but I did catch one very fat and very pregnant perch measured at 14.25" long that made a couple drag peeling runs. I spent most of that time wading out in waist deep water, so the reel was regularly splashed, but I avoided getting it dunked. And aside from having to remove the bail arm to flush out some sand that got inside when I dropped the reel -- it was making a grinding noise when you flipped the bail -- the only other maintenance I performed was to spray down the body and the inside of the rotor cup with a spray bottle.

As mentioned before I had my concerns about the bail not being manual, so I often took a quick glance down at the reel while closing the bail, and a couple of times I witnessed the line hang loose and start to get tangled when the bail closed. After that I started to close the bail right as my line was hitting the water, kind of like thumbing a baitcaster, and that stopped it from trying to make wind knots. Once I got the hang of the casting I was pretty happy with the performance of the reel. Next question was how well it held up to all the exposure to saltwater...

So yesterday I received my aluminum crosswind block, which gave me an excuse to open the reel back up and see how well it held up, and I was pleasantly surprised to not find any salt or sand buildup anywhere. I did find some signs of water exposure inside the body on the shaft between the pinion gear and the crosswind block, as seen in the picture below. At least I assume that is why the grease is a different color in that spot. I assume that is probably from me spraying the inside of the rotor cup after every use, but now I know it is an area to keep an eye on.

Overall I was very happy with the performance and ease of maintenance of this reel, and I plan on continuing to use her as my main surf reel. I even spotted a couple of nice size corbina, and  some sand crab beds already this early in the season, so hopefully before long I will get a chance to try this reel out on some bigger fish.

[mo65]

As mentioned before I had my concerns about the bail not being manual, so I often took a quick glance down at the reel while closing the bail, and a couple of times I witnessed the line hang loose and start to get tangled when the bail closed. After that I started to close the bail right as my line was hitting the water, kind of like thumbing a baitcaster, and that stopped it from trying to make wind knots.

   That is exactly how I my 720...it works very well!