Neoprene reel covers

[AlasKen]

For those of you using neoprene reel covers do you store the reel in them or remove them for storage.  I have heard it both ways.  Seems concern is condensation.  I typically use them for transport and when in boat rod holders heading to the grounds and at the end of the day on return to reduce the saltwater soaking from splashing.  I remove them when home to do a freshwater rinse.  Thoughts on storage between trips and winter?

[MarkT]

I leave them off at home.  I just put them on to protect them to/from the boat.  I don't want any moisture trapped inside.

[Brewcrafter]

Great on the boat, reduces unnecessary soaking of water coming over the rail soaking your gear in the racks BUT more importantly protects against knocking against the side of the cabin, other rods and reels, guys chasing a fish down the side of the boat and knocking into them, etc.  Same philosophy with rod socks.  I would not advocate storing reels in the covers after the trip for the reasons Mark mentions.- john

[AlasKen]

Great on the boat, reduces unnecessary soaking of water coming over the rail soaking your gear in the racks BUT more importantly protects against knocking against the side of the cabin, other rods and reels, guys chasing a fish down the side of the boat and knocking into them, etc.  Same philosophy with rod socks.  I would not advocate storing reels in the covers after the trip for the reasons Mark mentions.- john

Any rod sock you like over others.  I have always gone out in private boat but have decided to try and protect my own gear more from myself and family members.  Getting more $$ involved. 

[Brewcrafter]

Ken - I have never found one I was totally happy with, so make my own.  It is not difficult IF you want to invest the time and effort.  In terms of materials, when all is said and done (depending on how many you are doing) you are not going to be too far off of what it would cost to buy "off the shelf".  The downside is making them (not difficult, but a hot knife, an empty beer bottle and a heat gun really help but not mandatory).  There are many Youtubes that show the mechanics,, not hard at all (those pro bass guys in the south with 30 rods on their boat pretty much live by them).  Here is my source for the material.  I don't know these people or have any interest; I found them on the World Wide Information Resource and have ordered from them twice and it has gone OK.  So much for my endorsements 
https://www.cabletiesandmore.com/flexo-pet-braided-sleeving
While it is work (I enjoy it when it's fishing related) here are the upsides for me:  A:  Custom lengths - the "off the shelf" ones, while fine in quality all seem to be very limited in lengths.  Sucks when you have an expensive 9' rod...And B:  Custom colors - when you are on a long range boat with a bunch of different guys it is kind of cool when your stuff is easily identified when loading/unloading the boat and helps eliminate confusion.  C:  My "fishing room" also doubles as my office, and, let's face it yes, it's a garage, and not a very well sealed one.  Helps keep the dust off the rods as well.  I you want to know more PM me, I would be glad to help any way I can.  I will see if I can post some photos later. - john

[jurelometer]

Ken - I have never found one I was totally happy with, so make my own.  It is not difficult IF you want to invest the time and effort.  In terms of materials, when all is said and done (depending on how many you are doing) you are not going to be too far off of what it would cost to buy "off the shelf".  The downside is making them (not difficult, but a hot knife, an empty beer bottle and a heat gun really help but not mandatory).  There are many Youtubes that show the mechanics,, not hard at all (those pro bass guys in the south with 30 rods on their boat pretty much live by them).  Here is my source for the material.  I don't know these people or have any interest; I found them on the World Wide Information Resource and have ordered from them twice and it has gone OK.  So much for my endorsements 
https://www.cabletiesandmore.com/flexo-pet-braided-sleeving
While it is work (I enjoy it when it's fishing related) here are the upsides for me:  A:  Custom lengths - the "off the shelf" ones, while fine in quality all seem to be very limited in lengths.  Sucks when you have an expensive 9' rod...And B:  Custom colors - when you are on a long range boat with a bunch of different guys it is kind of cool when your stuff is easily identified when loading/unloading the boat and helps eliminate confusion.  C:  My "fishing room" also doubles as my office, and, let's face it yes, it's a garage, and not a very well sealed one.  Helps keep the dust off the rods as well.  I you want to know more PM me, I would be glad to help any way I can.  I will see if I can post some photos later. - john

Post up some photos  or instructions please!  I bought a spool of the stuff, but haven't gotten around to making socks yet.  Maybe some tips will get me inspired.

Getting back to the original question, the problem with reel covers and rod socks is that if you don't take them off soon enough, you end up with wet and salty  stuff  that you have to stow somewhere and de-salt before you use again.  As more of a minimalist,  I ditch the reel covers, soak the reels in fresh water after fishing and try to convince myself  that the boat rash doesn't bother me.

As Ken and Mark have noted, neoprene will keep the water out, but it will also keep the water in.  Salt  and moisture are the key elements for corrosion.  A neoprene cover can help a lot to protect from salt spray intrusion when the boat is moving, but I would be reluctant to use one for extended storage.   If you want to protect the reels from scratches in storage, something more breathable might be better. 

  I still use the Flexo type sleeves for fly rods as the sleeves seem to really help protect from damage. Having a couple differnt rods ready to roll ( just slide off the sleeve and cast) can make a a difference when you need to change tactics in a hurry.   Two three fly rods in sleeves can be bundled  together without tangling  along the gunnel of  a panga.

-J

[AlasKen]

I will continue my method which is put the cover on when leaving the house and keep it off after the mandatory fresh water rinse.

[Brewcrafter]

Jurelometer points out another advantage - keeps rigged rods from tangling (which is why the pro bass guys like them) when they are all in a locker or laying together.  On my buddy's boat, there are limited rod holders (or maybe we bring too much gear?  ) and the backup rods end up laying on a bunk in the cabin.  After a quick run out of the harbor they usually end up looking a little like "Pick Up Sticks".  There are plenty of good "how to" videos on YouTube, here are a couple of points I learned.  Once you do a couple you can bang them out pretty fast.
Hot Knife (basically a soldering iron with a blade) very handy.  Use for cutting the material and not having it unravel or fray, which is what will happen if you use scissors.  Before I picked one up (they are pretty affordable and handy), I actually used a putty knife that I heated up with a heat gun and it worked OK.  But a hot knife is so much easier, quicker and handy.
Beer Bottle - The end of the sock that the rod goes into on the professional models is usually sort of a bell mouth shape to make it easy to insert/remove the rod.  And it holds its shape.  I do this by folding over a short section of the material onto itself, then sliding it over an empty beer bottle to give it that "bell mouth shape".  A quick hit with a heat gun (not a hair dryer) causes the material to "set" in that form, it takes a little practice but after you do it a couple of times it's not rocket science.  I forgot to take a photo of this I will try and add one tonight.
The Tip - The tip is nothing more than plain old electrical shrink tubing that seals the top 2 inches or so, heat with the same heat gun.  I then use a fine tip paint pen to write on the tip to identify the rod (Ugly Stick in this case) because I found out the hard way that with the length of each sock custom to each rod, they are "mated" so to speak - and on my last trip it was "fun" when we were on the way in and everyone is breaking down gear and I have a handful of unlabeled rod socks to figure out which sock belonged to which rod (Doh!)
The Material - Most colors come in a variety of "min/max" diameters.  For me, 1 1/4" suffices for the vast majority of my salt water rods.  I do have a spool of 1 1/2" material for the trollers that have roller guides that sit higher off the blank.  Some colors have more sizes than others. 
Also this material is fairly robust; it is great for protection from abrasion and dust (particularly if all of your rods are bundled together when boarding) but you may see none of my ultralights or trout rods have them, simple because the sock probably weighs more than the rod itself and not practical for protection or transport since the rod is the "structure" and the sock is only a covering. - john

[Bryan Young]

Good deal John. Thanks for sharing!!!

[AlasKen]

Thanks for sharing.  I will make up some soon.

[Bill B]

John I have a question re-rod socks, if you leave the sock in a hot car (think of Palm Springs in the summer) what is the possibility of the sock shrinking like the electrical heat shrink tubing?  I would hate to come out to the car and have the sock fused to the rod.  Bil

[Brewcrafter]

I don't think that would happen; basically because the temperatures generated by the hot knife and heat gun are in the 100's of degrees F, and the spot where I store the raw material regularly gets over 110F in the summer and it has not affected it.  I know how the interior of a car in Palm Springs can get blast furnace hot though.  But then again this stuff is made for industrial type applications for looming wires.  I would be willing to bet our resident plastics guru Jurelometer would have a pretty good idea of the actual properties of the material itself since he works extensively crafting with different plastics. - john

[jurelometer]

I don't think that would happen; basically because the temperatures generated by the hot knife and heat gun are in the 100's of degrees F, and the spot where I store the raw material regularly gets over 110F in the summer and it has not affected it.  I know how the interior of a car in Palm Springs can get blast furnace hot though.  But then again this stuff is made for industrial type applications for looming wires.  I would be willing to bet our resident plastics guru Jurelometer would have a pretty good idea of the actual properties of the material itself since he works extensively crafting with different plastics. - john

Polyethylene expands when exposed to heat.  B

I don't think that would happen; basically because the temperatures generated by the hot knife and heat gun are in the 100's of degrees F, and the spot where I store the raw material regularly gets over 110F in the summer and it has not affected it.  I know how the interior of a car in Palm Springs can get blast furnace hot though.  But then again this stuff is made for industrial type applications for looming wires.  I would be willing to bet our resident plastics guru Jurelometer would have a pretty good idea of the actual properties of the material itself since he works extensively crafting with different plastics. - john

Just a science fanboy, not an expert in anything.   

But I otherwise agree  with John.    I think that the common flex tubing is a very loose weave of PET plastic.  A common name for PET is polyester.  Usually a change in the fit of polyester clothing is a result of beer and pizza and not thermal contraction.

And flex tubing is a much looser weave.   If they made shirts out of the stuff, one size would fit you for your whole adult life


Regarding thermal contraction:  I know at when molding or thermoforming plastics, you have to account for expansion with heat, not contraction.

I think the the heat shrinking thing is a special case where you start with a plastic in an amorphous state ( molecules randomly arranged) and use heat to get th molecules to organize into  something more organized that takes up less space (semi-crystalline?).   They usually want plastics that will only do this at more extreme temperatures, so that the dimensions are stable during use.  But I have no experience with this stuff other than the common heat shrink tubing on wiring.

-J

[Brewcrafter]

Yes, I was looking at the roll and it is PET.  The side benefit of having clothing made of the stuff is the "Chinese Finger Trap" effect where no one would ever be able to take them off...

[jurelometer]

Yes, I was looking at the roll and it is PET.  The side benefit of having clothing made of the stuff is the "Chinese Finger Trap" effect where no one would ever be able to take them off...

Oops.  Didn't think about the finger trap problem.  I better  pull my line of Flexo T-shirts before I am up to my eyeballs in pissed off customers