I am building a flipping rid that is a 7'6" telescoping rod. I am building this rod for myself as a test. I like to flip wood alot, but I have kind of short fore arms so instead of a 12" rear grip I went with a 10" split rear grip and no fore grip. I measured my placement of the first guide and it was 30" from the front of the reel. Is this going to be a problem or is there some sort os super strong epoxy I can throw over the first wrap so I don't over abuse it. Oh by the way I beat the @#$%& out of my equipment (a.k.a. tourney angler.)

MAKE SURE THAT THE FIRST GUIDE DOES NOT HIT THE BOTTOM SECTION. 30" WILL NOT HURT FOR FLIPPING AND PITCHING BECAUSE YOU WILL NOT HAVE A GREAT DEAL OF LINE SPEED LIKE YOU WOULD CASTING OVERHAND. THIS IS A VERY USE SPECIFIC ROD AND WON'T BE AS GOOD FOR LONG CASTS AS A ONE PIECE ROD. I HAVE SEVERAL TELE RODS AS FLIPPIN' STICKS AND THEY WORK FINE.

Permagloss urethane is much more resistant to abrasion, etc. that epoxies. Downside is that it's thin and takes lots of coats to get the smooth look, and even than I don't think it's as glass smooth as epoxy. That said I've used it a lot on my own personal rods, or rods I'm trying to build more "Old School" for older customers that still use the old Pfleuger Rocket knuckle busters.

Well the first thing, the epoxy is not what holds the guides to blank, it only coats and protects the thread. One thing I would do for sure is spiral wrap the guides. That may mean you have to move that first guide a bit more away to allow the blank to complete retract. As far as the grips go, that is lways up to the person using the rod. Myself I tend to like a shorter rear grip, but still put on a foregrip myself, itself usually being short. The thing I do for transition guides for my bass rods is ise double foot guides, them switch over to singel foot guides for the rest of the rod. Always using some form of locking wrap on the single foot guides.