I'm considering building a boat rod on a Cape Fear blank but am hesitant to with the hexagonal shape of the blank. Does anyone have any experience building on these blanks? Does epoxy act the same due to the shape? How do you get them to roll smoothly in a standard rod winding setup? Do grips keep their round shape? What happens when you put a guide with a rounded base to accomodate a regular blank on a flat surface? How do you attach the reel seat effectively?

Any advice would be welcome, but the more I type about it the more I think I'd rather just use a traditional blank!

William,
I have experience building on these blanks. If you could you detail to me the specs on the boat rod you're using, I could give you more specific advice.

The epoxy will act the same only that you will have to take your time on the edges to make them all meet each other to make a continuous line all the way around the blank. If your rod winding station has rollers, you should be fine. The only hard part is that a) because of the hexagonal shape, the blank does put up a touch more resistance in rolling and B) I never put the top brace down when winding a Cape Fear otherwise they're even harder to roll!

If the grip is of sufficient outer diameter, it will mostly keep its rounded shape. Make sure that the inner diameter of the grip is no more than half of the diameter you are sliding the grip onto because of the funny hexagonal problem. I've had great success with that practice than the 3/4 rule when it comes to Cape Fears.

I am not sure what to make of your question about a rounded base? I think I know what you mean. If the guide feet don't protrude outside the face of the blank you're winding them onto, you should be fine. You'll find that in general, the hexagonal blank is in many ways easier to build than the round ones. You still have to take care to properly align your guides though!

The reel seat question is a long winded one. There are so many ways to attach them. Here's something I've done with great success: Use masking tape as an arbor in the back of the reel seat as it is pliable enough to create a rounded arbor. Use drywall tape for the rest of the arbors except the front arbor which will be graphite. Make sure all the arbors fit very tightly. Smack as much glue as you can into the drywall tape. Place and align the reel seat then slowly pour more epoxy into the reel seat. Slide the graphite arbor into place and let it sit. I've had to cut one of these open to refurbish a rod and let me tell you, they ain't goin' nowhere!

I think you'll be very happy with that blank and before you judge the blank, try building it and using it first. If you still don't like it, then at least you gave it an honest try. Cheers!

Thanks, that makes me feel better. I haven't even decided exactly which blank model I'm using yet, I just wanted to use Cape Fear since the person I'm building it for will be using it in Wilmington where they're made.

One thing I left out. If you're building on the 50-80 class rods where the reel seats need to be larger, leave out the graphite arbor part as they don't make 'em that big. If you have any other questions as you're building it up, please e-mail me right away or something. Cheers!

Cape Fear blanks are a little pricey but they fish really great. Here is some information that may be useful.

1) When installing the grips make sure that the butt cap is temporarily installed or use something like a phonebook against the butt. The walls of the blank could possibly collapse if too much pressure is applied to one side. They have added a fiberglass butt overwrap on many of there blanks. Use a piece of wood with a hole to install grips less likely to twist blank during installation.

*** IMPORTANT ***
DO NOT TWIST CAPE FEAR BLANKS, they could break because they are built using 5 T's glued together at the edges. They consist of 5 Graphite and 1 Fiberglass (this is the compression side of the blank). Usually you can see a different color on one of the T's. The blanks are marked to aid you in placing the spine.


2) Sometimes excess epoxy will work its way backup the grip on flat sides of the blank. Watch it for a while and wipe off any excess that appears or you'll wakeup to dried epoxy overflow onto the grip. This happens because the grip sits tighter to the edges of hexagon.

*** IMPORTANT ***
When cleaning the blank do not use alcohol too heavily the black finish may come off, however they may have changed the coating since. Test a small section at the bottom to see. Do not scuff the surface with anything rougher than scotch brite. You could accidentily sand the ridges off the blank and sacrfice the structural integrity of the blank.

3) Make a masking tape arbor on the blank in between the guide wraps as a location for the rod support. Apply enough tape to make the arbor round.

4) For good finish results on the overwraps. I use D size thread for underwraps. The thicker thread holds the rod finish better and helps to get the underwraps rounder. I coat the underwraps twice, this aids the circular shape to start. The edges of the Hex show through. A Hi build formula tends to work better.


5) Make sure the guide feet from the shut off to the tip of the blank are properly sized and shaped. Check to see if the guide feet are too long when rod is fully deflected.

Good Luck

rockin yee,
Have you actually had one of these blanks give way on you? I've never placed a butt cap before installing the grip and I haven't had a problem yet. What's your process of placing the grip? Also, never thought of using thread as thick as D for underwraps. So far I've had great luck using size A.

From your comments about thread holding rod finish well, it sounds like you may have had problems with the finish not holding to the blank. Make sure that when you apply your finish for the first layer, it should be so thin that it doesn't even show up when dried. IN this manner, the finish will have made its way to the blank. If you apply the finish to quickly and with too much, it actually creates air pockets and the thread just becomes an epoxy shell rather than a means of transporting the epoxy from the surface of the thread to the blank itself.

That was a great idea for the masking tape to make an arbor for the rod rollers. I'll try that on the next one. Not sure wha tyou mean by checking to see if the guide feet are too long. Cheers!

I have not had a failure but some of my friends has and one happened to be a Cape Fear dealer.

I apply grips very carefully on Cape Fears, look at the butt and look closely at the walls. The walls have to be thin for several reasons. One reason is weigth savings and second is flexibilty. Without good bonding technology the blanks would explode.

I tend to dry wick the first coat on the underwraps and apply finish late at night. Drywicking insures proper saturation and no bubbles. The second coat is applied early the next morning. I like to do this because the epoxy is not fully cured. At this point the finish on the underwraps start to get rounder. The larger diameter thread tends to hold more epoxy because of its larger diameter it tends to sit further atop the blank.

Considering you like thin finishes on wraps I am quite surprised that the ridges do not bleed through. What blank models are you building on? I am from the northeast so most of the blanks are heavier.

Guide foot length pertained to the area of the blank in which the guide feet are placed. In some cases the guide feet will dig into the blank. During full deflection the rod bends and provided the guide feet are properly sized all will be fine. However sometimes not enough attention is given to the length of the guide feet and when there is a flat area at full deflection it is possible to cause structural sacrfice.