fly rod repair

[rustyrat]

I'm looking for someone to repair a Lamiglas fly rod.  The end plug and the tightening rings are missing on the reel seat.  The rest of the reel seat is fine.  If parts cant be had, it might need a whole new reel seat.  This is a fairly expensive rod so I would prefer someone with extensive rod building experience.  Thanks.

RR

[Nessmuk]

Rusty

Rod building and repair isn't that tough unless it is a rod with a break or loose ferrules. Replacing a real seat is probably easier than trying to find parts.

Check out Jans Netcraft for reel seats. There are a lot of on line resources.

[tails up]

If u live near Rochester id call Coleman's fly shop on ridge he fixed a noodle rod for me it was perfect couldn't tell where he fixed it at all but he can b a bit touchy wit people he doesn't know but he does nice work

[John E Powell]

There's good news and bad news.

 

Bad news is you will likely need a new seat.

 

Good news is that this is a very easy repair on a fly rod, something you can do yourself - this is because the seat is at the end of the rod blank. It's a more complex repair on a rod with a rear grip.

 

First remove your old seat. If it's a metal seat, use a heat gun set somewhere from 360-440 degrees and heat the seat making sure to protect the grip material from direct heat. If it's a wood seat, get a pan of water boiling on the stove. The water should be deeper than the length of the seat your removing. Pre-size a pair of pliers or vise grips and have them ready to go. Pull a plastic bag over the end of the seat and dip the seat in the boiling water and depending on the materials heat conductivity allow time to heat the seat sufficiently to loosen the epoxy. After a few minutes, check to see if you can get it loosened, if not, heat some more and try again (and again if necessary). Eventually it should come right off. If this doesn't work, you will have to mechanically remove the seat by carefully cutting the seat. If your middle name is "Bubba" you might consider a pro at this point, but still most anyone who works slowly and carefully can remove the seat without damaging the blank.

 

Once the seat is removed, clean up the area all the way back down to the rod blank. Don't worry if you damage the finish on the blank cleaning it up, just be careful not to go all the way through the finish to the fibers.

 

Now you have a clean blank and a reel seat. you need to create an arbor (or arbors) to fill the area between the smaller blank and the larger inside diameter of the seat. Depending on the seat you use it may or may not come with arbors. If it comes with arbors, they will need to be drilled to clear over the butt of the blank (this is backwards from how a rod is normally built so the arbor holes may be loose in their final location. If they are loose, wrap a band of masking tape tightly around the blank that is narrower than the arbor and build up the tape so the arbor is snug. using a band of tape that is narrower than the arbor allows room under the arbor for direct epoxy contact between the arbor and blank. if it comes with one long arbor, wrap multiple bands of tape leaving spaces between the bands for the epoxy to fill the area and connect the arbor to the blank.

 

If the seat did not come with arbors, then you will make some using tape again making sure you wrap very tightly and leave spaces between the bands of tape.

 

Dry fit the arbors to the blank, then the seat to the arbors. If no arbors dry fit the seat directly to your bands of tape.

 

Mix up your 2-part epoxy. Use something that sets up in at least 30 minutes, not the 5-10 minute stuff. Set the epoxy aside for a few minutes and allow it to spread out on a piece of aluminum foil.  Give it a minute or two for the large air bubbles to work to the surface and pop. Have some denatured alcohol handy for cleanup, and start assembling the various parts again making sure everything if fully filled and slide it in position.

 

Clean up any squeeze out, and using either tape or some large rubber bands secure the seat so it doesn't twist out of location and at the same time the tape/bands should apply some pressure to pull the seat forward against the grip material. Then set aside in an upright position.

 

There may be some variations to all of this depending on the kind of seat you use, but it really is a lot easier than what most people would think.