Once again, I just want to know your opinnion, this time regarding reel seats assembly.

Tom's book, page 24: "...Thoroughly coat the surfaces and sides of your arbors or bushings with the adhesive and slide the seat down over the assembly, totating it as you do so..." In this case, it seems that bonding is something like "seat to arbor" + "arbor to blank". Tom doesn't talk about large quantities of adhesive.

Flex Coat's book, page 13 (talking about tape bushings): "...leaving small 1/8 to 1/4 inch gaps between the bushings for epoxi glue. When using masking tape, it's important to realize that the tape is used only as a spacer - the attachment of the reel seat must be a strong bond of epoxy glue extending from the blank to the reel seat."..."(next page) glue the reel seat, putting plenty of epoxy in the gaps of the tape bushings"

I imagine second system, is only when using tape bushings, due to the fact that tape bushings are not solid. How can you make the epoxy to "wait" into the gaps while finishing to fill them?

If I use cork bushings, must I follow first or second bonding system?

Adding globs of adhesive doesn't add strength, just weight. The reason Flex Coat mentions filling the voids is to ensure the masking tape, which is not impervious to water and moisture, will not be affected should any such things get in there.

Thin glue lines are generally stronger than thick ones. This is certainly true with our liquid and gel type epoxies, which are ideal for mounting reel seats.

You may wish to take a good look at the new Flex Coat foam arbors. They're easy to use and don't cost much at all.

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