I have a boat rod that is built off spine about 45 degrees. I would like to convert it to a spiral wrapped rod. To save me alot of trouble, I am thinking of just stripping off the guides and start rebinding them; leaving the rod off spine. is alright if I do that? How will it affect the performance of the rod?

I would be great if anyone could give some tips about the spine on spiral wrapped rods.

Thanks..

Spine plays no role in rod stability. Go ahead and spiral wrap the rod - you'll like it much better in a fish fighting situation.

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Does it mean that when building a spiral wrapped rod, there is no need to locate the spine?

There is never any need to locate the spine, unless you're trying to do something specific with it. If you're simply after stability, the spine cannot give you that, but spiral wrapping can.

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Vincent,
In your case, Tom is right. It'll be easier for you to just re-wrap the guides in a spiral. However, as far as not needing a spine, uhmmmmmm, I've seen more than one rod flip over during a fight. That was one of the reasons a lot of guys I knew started to experiment with spiral wraps in the first place. Especially with lower quality blanks that had multiple spines. If you're really going after fighting capability where you plan on pushing the blank to its utmost max like I do, and you are going with the conventional wrap, you need to find the spine. If you're doing a spiral wrap, it still ain't a bad idea to find the spine, but not as necessary for fighting. Never saw a spiral wrapped or spinning rod flip over during a fight. I'd be interested to hear about anyone who has though!