Fiberglass refinish

[TaoCat]

I recently purchased a 4-piece fiberglass rod, age and make unknown from a local junk store. I like it for the slow action it appears fairly well made (of course, I know very little about fiberglass rods).
It's in excellent condition except for the finish. It's a brown color, and almost like paint. It's peeling off in places, and I worry that it might allow it to deteriorate further.
Is there any inexpensive way to fix this? Cover it with epoxy? Can the epoxy be made to match the original color? It doesn't have to look perfect, but I'd like this old rod to fish again (casting big streamers would be lovely with it..)
Thanks,
Mike

[billknepp]

Hummm...Not sure..I have in the past taken an Wright&McGill Featherlight fiberglass fly rod and sanded off the yellow paint..(did'nt like the color)..Loved the rod thoe...and reprimed and painted it,Still have the rod and it still fishes as it always did...weather it is/was a good thing for the rod..I have no clue..but that was a good 5 years ago,and the rod is no worse for wear...what you do..Is entirely up to you though....as I'm not an expert...nore do I claim to be...whatever you do...do it with care...

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"I've often wondered why it is that so many anglers spend so much money on,and pay so much attention to.the details on the wrong end of the fly line.If they took as much care in selecting or tying their flies as they did in the selection of the reel and rod,They might be able to gain the real extra edge that makes it possible to fool a fish that has,in fact,seen it all before" A.K.Best

"Wish ya great fishing"

Bill




[This message has been edited by billknepp (edited 25 July 2005).]

[PanFisher]

Not sure if this would be considered a good idea but a long while back (80?s) I received a number of fiberglass blanks built by a friend who had a bucket of broken Fenwick rods from the 50's 60's. He had stripped them down and cut them to produce various blanks of different line weights. These rods had sat outside in the weather and looked pretty beat up.

I used an extremely fine sand paper to smooth them out and then built the rod. For the finish I first finished the wraps as normal. Then for a final finish I used an extremely thinned coat of Flex coat (1 part A, 1 part B, and 1 part denatured alcohol). With this I coated the entire blank wraps and all. It produced a very beautiful look. The wraps just flowed as if they were part of the blank. I used one rod 8? 5 wt for over ten tears and never had a problem with it.


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Let No One Walk Alone
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Bill

[dleo6446]

About a year ago I restored a Heddon "Pal" for a collector here in Nashville, and after looking at how it was originally built, it appeared that the glass had been coated with varnish after the build on it. I put a new grip on it, rewrapped it in original Heddon colors, then after color preserving the thread I gave it a couple of quick dips in varnish, just as I would a bamboo and it looked fantastic.

[analogbob]

Thanks, Panfisher! You gave me a good idea for use in refinishing my 35 year old 7 foot 5 weight Fenwick glass rod.

[PanFisher]

analogbob

Take good care on that one. If I remember correctly that Fenwick 7' 5 wt model was one of the best to come out of Fenwick.

They made some great rods but if I remember correctly that model was especially sought after.


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Let No One Walk Alone
><))))'>------<'((((><
Bill

[analogbob]

Thanks again, Panfisher. I always suspected it was a superior rod to later models that my friends used. The finish and wrappings were clearly superior to later madels. It has a low serial number. I remember, I was the first "kid" on the block to get a new and revolutionary tip over butt ferruled Fenwick. It got an awful lot of use along with the Pfleuger 1494 I used with it. They both held up real well and I wouldn't part with either one. The rod has some "alligatoring" on it and I've lost the rubber butt plug from the reel seat and haven't had any luck in finding a replacement. The guide wraps are still in good shape as are the guides. The decorative wrap near the grip is especially nice and unlike anything Fenwick did with it's later models. It is a thickish cord wrapped around the rod in a figure 8 pattern. I'm not going to mess with it. I'm going to have to approach this project real carefully!