Why not Ocean City?

oldmanjoe · February 26, 2020, 01:45:35 AM

I grew up with ocean city . It was a time when reels were heavy and bullet proof as were the rods they sat on .
For me fishing came full circle , I am back to old heavy rigs , i like the way they feel balance while holding them.

oc1 · February 26, 2020, 09:34:43 AM

This little reel is so cute that I had to get it. A 100 yard OC St. Lucie model 979b. Apparently, it was only made in 1950; the year I was born so, yeah.

http://www.raingarden.us/snap/OC979a.jpg

As received:

http://www.raingarden.us/snap/OC979b.jpg

http://www.raingarden.us/snap/OC979c.jpg

The rounded shoulders on the bakelite side plates was a 1950 thing and was only found on a few models. The double green handle knobs were only on a few models too.

http://www.raingarden.us/snap/OC979d.jpg

You would never know it is in the St. Lucie series unless you see the box or read Mike's book. Instead of St. Lucie, the bottom is stamped "MOD B". Since they were only made for a year you have to wonder if there was a MOD A.

http://www.raingarden.us/snap/OC979e.jpg

It has a yoke-and-jack-type clutch but it's so over-built you may not recognize it at first.

http://www.raingarden.us/snap/OC979f.jpg

http://www.raingarden.us/snap/OC979g.jpg

The guts. Instead of having a cut-out in the pinion gear to catch the spool, the pinion nests in a robust collar with four projections to catch the spool.

http://www.raingarden.us/snap/OC979h.jpg

I couldn't get it back together with crumbled leather drag washers. The easy thing to do was make new ones.

http://www.raingarden.us/snap/OC979i.jpg

This is handy. The journal bushings can be completely removed and replaced.

http://www.raingarden.us/snap/OC979j.jpg

A size comparison of the 979 (on top) with a Penn No.9, 146 and 1/0

http://www.raingarden.us/snap/OC979k.jpg

This not my box. I stole the photo somewhere.

http://www.raingarden.us/snap/OC979l.jpg

The older 100 yard Quaker City shown above is much larger than the 100 yard 979. The Quaker City was sized to accept 100 yards of linen line (roughly 36 lb test). The 979 is sized to accept braided nylon line. 100 yards of 27 lb test fit perfectly. You have to wonder exactly when they changed the standard sizes in response to improvements in the line. It may have changed again when braided nylon was being replaced by monofilament nylon. By the time braided spectra came along, they had given up and no longer used line capacity to describe reel sizes (100 yd., 200 yd., etc.)

-steve

mhc · February 26, 2020, 11:39:56 AM

Thanks for posting Steve, the dog spring under bridge is interesting - any chance you have a photo of the dog set up on the top side?

Mike

Swami805 · February 26, 2020, 01:39:45 PM

Nice small reel, looks stout. I like that Harnell in the picture, I'm rebuilding one for surf fishing now, first time I've seen one with the reel seat threads up

oc1 · February 26, 2020, 07:40:06 PM

I'll have to take a photo Mike. The dog pivots on that sleeve that accepts the bridge screw. The sleeve makes things much more secure than just threating the bridge into the thin bridge plate. The dog is wider than what we're used to and has a post coming out of the side. That post extends through the bridge plate and attaches to the spring. I soaked and cleaned it without removing the dog so that spring would not fly away.

I don't think I'd seen one either Sheridan. If I'm going to use a reel seat I like the threads to be on top (down lock) so you are not holding the slippery threads when casting.

-steve

oc1 · February 28, 2020, 08:36:30 AM

A similar dog from a different reel. If you've seen one you've seen them all. But I still didn't remove the spring.

http://www.raingarden.us/snap/monoline1.jpg

http://www.raingarden.us/snap/monoline2.jpg

http://www.raingarden.us/snap/monoline3.jpg

The bridge came out of here:

http://www.raingarden.us/snap/monoline4.jpg

It's a two-hundred yard size Ocean City Monoline Model 949 with bluish grey colored side plates. Note the steel gears. Yeah, it's like deja vu all over again.

The Penn Monofil with colored side plates are from 1954-1955. The Ocean City Monoline with colored side plates came out in 1956. There were several sizes of each. Clearly, Ocean City followed Penn's success. The were both following the mid-century modern look and plastics technology.

http://www.raingarden.us/snap/monoline5.jpg

http://www.raingarden.us/snap/monoline6.jpg

Mike C. says the Penn and OC colored side plates were all made with melamine resin. Melamine is naturally very light in color so it can be deeply pigmented. The Bakelite made with phenolic resin is naturally reddish brown in color (like tobacco rods). If phenolic resin is pigmented the resulting color will be muddy so the options are usually black and dark maroon.

Melamine was being used to make Formica countertops and dishes during this period too. There were five kids in our family so the new unbreakable dishes were a big deal.

-steve

http://whitefishpress.com/bookdetail/249

mhc · February 28, 2020, 11:00:17 AM

Thanks for the detailed photos Steve, I've seen the dog design before - Sal's great post of his 'OC Inductor 250' break-down a couple of years back featured one but the dog 'in place' was partially hidden in the photos.
It looks like a compact set up that would suit double dogging small reels providing there is enough clearance between the bridge and spool for the spring arrangement - something to think about when I finish making sawdust

Mike

Donnyboat · February 28, 2020, 12:20:32 PM

Thanks for the pic Steve, nice detail, nice little reel, I have a Ocean city bay City, in my cabinet, cheers Don.

oc1 · February 28, 2020, 06:33:05 PM

Quote from: mhc on February 28, 2020, 11:00:17 AM
Sal's great post of his 'OC Inductor 250' break-down a couple of years back featured one

Seen one you've seen them all. The Inductor is also early '50s and, to my mind, was revolutionary. Penn had no equal.

Don, I'm looking for it in your cabinet photo now.
-s

Donnyboat · February 28, 2020, 09:45:43 PM

Good Steve, third shelf, third from the left, that is the reel Crow sent me along with the sears6 4376, the sears reel is not in the cabinet, cheers Don.

steelfish · February 29, 2020, 01:49:09 AM

I have 3 OC reels that I have on at my office cabinet

112, 981 and a little 1600

Gfish · February 29, 2020, 03:03:08 PM

One of the things I really like about the OC's are the handle lock-nut/wrench and the knock-down eccentric lever on some models.
Not too sure about the moveable bridge-plate (in liu of a yoke)system. Wouldn't that be weaker than a 4 screw secured bridge-plate like Penn's have and some OC's have?

oc1 · March 20, 2020, 08:06:20 AM

As it arrived. The knob looks like wood but it is plastic.
http://www.raingarden.us/snap/962a.jpg

Marked Montague. Ocean City owned Montague.
http://www.raingarden.us/snap/962b.jpg

http://www.raingarden.us/snap/962c.jpg

http://www.raingarden.us/snap/962d.jpg

http://www.raingarden.us/snap/962e.jpg

http://www.raingarden.us/snap/962g.jpg

Ocean City supplied a little tube a Lubriplate grease with the reels. Lubriplate is a lithium grease that was very popular in the day. Old Lubriplate grease always looks like this stuff.
http://www.raingarden.us/snap/962h.jpg

Benni3 · March 20, 2020, 01:34:05 PM

That's a very cool looking color,,,,,

oc1 · April 02, 2020, 09:20:37 AM

This one is my favorite. An OC 988. It's about the same size as the St. Lucie above but has an anodized aluminum spool.

http://www.raingarden.us/snap/988e.jpg

http://www.raingarden.us/snap/988f.jpg

http://www.raingarden.us/snap/988g.jpg

This example was in fairly good condition. It's sort of a shame what I did to it:

http://www.raingarden.us/snap/988h.jpg
eight magnets 3/8 inch diameter, 1/8 inch thick, donut shape and countersunk for a 4-40 flathead screw.

I made a medium weight rod for it. One piece, 11 ft., the sweet spot is a two ounce lure.
The process as described here:
https://alantani.com/index.php?topic=27258.0

http://www.raingarden.us/snap/988a.jpg

I had a piece of this dense closed-cell form that is used to mill kayak and canoe seats.
http://www.raingarden.us/snap/988b.jpg

It seemd like it might make good rod grips.
http://www.raingarden.us/snap/988c.jpg

They turned out softer and more squishy than eva foam. Possible, but not my favorite.
http://www.raingarden.us/snap/988d.jpg

The butt grip has a big piece of sheet lead to counterbalance the rod. The foam block is not thick enough to cover the ccunter weight so it had to be made with string.

http://www.raingarden.us/snap/988k.jpg

http://www.raingarden.us/snap/988l.jpg

-steve