I've been using the brick foam (graphite) arbors for many years. Used Clemen's stuff (Sensitron?) before that. With the new Rod Bond, it's an even better system. Two of them drilled out close, then taper reamed and it's a done deal.
I've been looking at the Flex Coat arbors hard, but see no need to add the extra step of cutting them to length??

Putter

As someone who spent many years working for an adhesives tape manufacturer I can tell you that anybody who uses masking tape as a support under a reel seat is barking up the wrong tree. Masking tape is made to break down over time and the adhesive used on it is only designed to last for a very short period of time. Think of the name~ MASKING tape. It ends up getting used for a ton of things but it is designed and made for short term use to MASK off items or areas that you do not want to get paint or similar things on. It was never designed for and should not be used to support structures or in situations where moisture or heat are present or where long term use is needed.

Anyone who uses masking tape under a reel seat and wants to talk about not having had any failures had better knock on wood. There are only two types of bushings made from masking tape~ those that have failed and those that are going to. And epoxy is made to adhere things, not support them.

I have been building rods over 20 yrs now. When I used masking tap what I did was cut slices accross the masking taps that way I was assured I got my bonding agent to encapsulate the entire arbor.. Now I use dry wall tape and this way I know for sure my bonding agent is going to be all the way thru to the blank from the reelseat and now gaps. Also I find that the 5 minute stuff has no shear point and get brittle as time goes by. I now use Rod Bond
Good Wraps Bob

There's still some references to "support" when referring to masking tape arbors. They must not be used for this purpose or bonding failures are sure to follow. The epoxy filler is the load bearing material in the installation.

PC-7 paste epoxy is a poor choice for rod building, it makes a sticky mess that is hard to clean up. Kardol or Rod Bond would better choices - they have a long dwell period and remain soft in consistency long enough to finish any installations and alignments. I have been using Kardol for a long time, it used to be called by another name but cannot recall that old name at the moment.

I usually mount grips and reel seat using kardol all in one process, mix epoxy, install rear grip, reel seat, then foregrip. Then align reel seat to spine, clean up, and let set for 24 hours. I have assembled up to a dozen rod grip/reel seat assys at once using one batch without the epoxy giving ANY trouble.

Once the epoxy is hardens the bond between reel seat and blank is permanent, and the epoxy cures into a very hard solid - I cannot overemphasize this. It is harder than any foam arbor that I have seen. It cannot be crushed, cannot be easily drilled, cannot be easily filed, thus stuff cures HARD, and provids a very strong bond. The resulting rings of harden filler between the masking tape arbors are so strong that they by themselves, if the masking tape were to somehow be magically removed, would be more than strong enough to support the reel seat. Otherwise the reel seat would fail, since the masking tape arbors are nothing more that soft centering devices.

As far as weight is concerned at worse, using only two masking tape arbors (I use 3-4) - one on either end - and filling the entire void with paste epoxy would be adding an insignificant amount of weigth to many of the rods I build. Example: A 30lb class unibutt with roller guides = 30oz. Add a Shimano TLD-25 loaded with line = about 27oz. These are conservative estimates. Fifty-seven oz = more than 3.5lbs. On heavier class rods 80lb or 100lb (or heavier) the difference would be irrelevant. I seriously doubt a few grams more of epoxy weight are going to make a difference.

On the otherhand on a light weight rod where one is trying to shave off every possible gram of weight then the graphite arbors would be more desireable. Ultra-lights, light fly rods, etc.have lightly loaded reel seats. Unfortunately I don't build many of those, the fish caught on many of the rods I build would use lightweight rods as toothpicks.

Anyone that thinks that there are only two types of bushings made from masking tape, (those that have failed and those that are going to) have better look again. Properly installed reel seats using masking tape arbors are highly durable. However masking tape is to be used only for centering the rod on the blank, with the load being taken by the epoxy filler between the arbors. Modern paste epoxies are extremly strong making the reel seat to blank bond permanent. I have rods being fished hard on an almost daily basis, in a wet salt water environment - I am still waiting for one to fail. Let me see, my first rod I built when I was only 19 years old, today I am almost 50 - thats alot of waiting!!

Me and amberjack:

[members.cox.net]

Lou

A couple of years ago I gave a demo at the Rodcrafters national seminar about how to install reel seats with fiberglas drywall tape. I would be happy to send a copy of the handout I used to anyone interested.