Securing the reel seat

[jw healy]

I am nearing the end of building my first rod and am concerned about securing the reel seat. The seat is an all aluminum one with no inserts. The seat has an I.D. of .55" and the blank has an O.D. of about .31". As a result, the two masking tape arbors are about .25" tall. Everything fits snugly but only the masking tape arbors make contact with the inside of the seat. This seems to be inherently weak. Is there anything I should do to strenghten the contact points or am I being overly cautious?

[TampaJim]

I strongly suggest using graphite foam arbors. They are stronger, less prone to breakdown AND much lighter than tape/epoxy.

For your application, size 14 should be just right. Pac Bay offers 1" sections (place at intervals) OR a contiguous length of 5.75" that can be cut to length (my preference of 90% coverage, leaving a small gap at each end).

TJ -

[ol' blue]

The tape will be ok. I usually make sure that my epoxy covers the sides of the tape and face of the tape, and goes onto the blank on both sides for a little bit in a continual unbroken area. The epoxy will soak into the tape a bit, and it really makes a solid build up. I've never had one fail, and in fact I'm trying to remove one from a past build and finding it not so easy.
Just make sure the blank surface and the seat surface where you are gluing are scuffed up a bit.

[cheffy]

Besides the foam arbors the other thing I use is mesh drywall tape. It comes it 2" wide rolls that have a bit of adhesive to get them to stick to the blank. Wrap it on until it fits your seat. I'd do two arbors. then saturate the mesh with epoxy. Scuff the inside of the reel seat and coat with more epoxy. assemble and let dry. Voila!

[Betty Hiner]

Here, I'll throw one more idea in to the pot!

I use masking tape, in a 1/2 inch width, applied 1/8 inch apart. I use the calipers to know how thick to wind the tape, and when it's "just about tight" I stop. Then slather the rod end with all the wrappings, with rod bond, working the adhesive into the spaces between the tape, and slide on the reel seat. The rod bond adheres to the rod, the tape, and the inside of the reel seat.

[Midwest Custom Fly Rods]

I've used all three methods mentioned (masking tape, dry wall tape, graphite arbors) and for the past 4 yrs I've been using just masking tape. I usually space them apart about 1/4" and the epoxy fills in the gaps and creates a very good bond. The person I learned rod building from has used masking tape on all his rods for over 40 yrs now and has never had a seat come loose.

That by no means means that you have to use masking tape though. Any of the 3 methods the guys above mentioned will work great. There's more than one way to do things so just pick one that you like and use that and you'll be fine.

Steve