I am building my first fly rod. Bought the components from one of the well known online / catalogs (not going to name them - it may not be their fault and there is probably nothing they can realistically do about it.) The problem concerns the handle kit: cork handle and reel seat combo.

So I ream out my cork and tape up the rod blank. Glue on the reel seat, glue on the cork, wrap the guides, and then I go to mount a reel to see how it feels. Well, turns out that the reel seat (probably the wooden insert part) was too short. Even with the locking mechanism fully open, I can't fit the reel into the seat. The reel slides into the front part a little ways but there is just not enough room to have the other end fit into the other arbor.

I posted a picture here:

[www.onlinedesign.us]

Next time, I am "dry fitting" everything before doing any glueing. I guess that I could cut the reel seat off but I would have to cut thru cork as well because of the recessed arbor and that would detract from the handle a bit not to mention the problems with fitting something to extend the now butchered blank to mount a new reel seat. Or I can grind the "foot" on the reel down to a size that will fit.

Anyone ever run into this before? Any other ideas?

Jim

If it's really close to fitting, and it's your own rod and reel, just cut a bit of the foot of the reel off.

Putter
Williston, ND

Putter,

I am 99% sure that's what I am going to do. I bought the reel for this rod and dont have any others that need to go on it - so its gonna be bench grinder time to knock off 3/16" off both ends and maybe a bit off the top side so it slides into the arbors. Maybe even paitn the reel foot so it looks nice after the grinding ;)

Jim

James,
From the appearance in the photo, it appears that the upper hood of the reel seat wasn't secured to the very end (upper end) of the wooden insert. If the hood wasn't securely epoxied at the time that you pushed the grip down over the upper hood, the upper hood may have slid down the wooden insert. Many inletted cork grips are bored out much deeper than the depth of the upper hood.

Good luck with your recovery efforts.

Jeff Shafer

James,

Don't use a bench grinder. The foot on your reel is probably aluminum which will clog up the grinding wheel and cause some serious problems. Use a belt sander and have some water handy that you can periodically quench the foot in.

Also, if you need to take off as much as 3/16" on either end of the foot, it might not fit at all. The foot is tapered and as you grind down the length the thickness will increase and possibly be to thick to fit the hood of the reel seat.

Mark

contact the reel's manufacturer for a replacement if it's separate from the reel's main body, just in case shaving off a bit leaves it unusable.

eric
fresno, ca..

Why don't you heat up the reel seat cap and remove it, unscrew the lock ring and remove the sliding hood? With the hood in hand carefully grind down the back edge about 1/4 inch to allow the reel foot to clear and then touch up the ground edge with a matt black finish. Re-assemble and go fishing. Should work.

Good luck,

Bill

you know what by looking at the pic.. it looks to me that maybe when he inserted it into the cork there might have been to much epoxy and filled the upper hood because the reel doesant look like its going in all the way stick a flash light in there to see............ and if there is clear it out with a hobby knife before you go tearing it up

The reel seat foot is shaped so that it increases in height the closer to the reel you get. This shape is what causes a reel foot to lock under reel seat hoods.

The problem is in the reel seat, not the foot on the reel. Fix the reel seat. Grinding on the reel will only result in two items that are now non-standard - the reel seat and the reel foot. Remove the problem components and make the necessary adjustments to correct this problem.

With some careful cutting you won't have to remove the entire grip, just the 2-3 rings that form the inletted portion of the grip. Replace with like cork rings and new parts using typical assembly practices.

Thanks for all the good ideas. One way or the other, I think this will work out.

You could also try to get a large file round or a made cork reamer or a lighter with sandpaper on it and take some off of the curve under the feet . This will make the feet lay closer to the seat and possibly get it to fit. And the work will not be seen
Like said check to see if there is any epoxy in the hood.
Also if you have an old seat that you will not use, make it fit, as it is tightened into the hoods, they some times reajust them selfs and form a better fit

Just looking at the picture the insert is the shortest I've ever seen. I think if it was my rod I would remve the insert and get a new one the proper length. You should be able to save the hardware so all you need is the insert.

Just my opinion however.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/24/2005 10:02AM by Bob Crook.

I just had this problem with an insert I made. I thought I made it too short. I tried one of my other reels and it fit fine. The reel I tried first has a long foot, nearly 5/16" longer than my Tioga. Check the length of the foot on the reel that won't fit.

Bill Vance's suggestion seemed like the best but I could not get the epoxy to melt and did not want more problems so I ended up just grinding the foot on the reel to a size that now fits the reel seat. Not a big deal - its my first fly rod build and the reel was on sale cheap at Gander Mt when I bought it so they can stay mated for life. I can only imagine that some how the top arbor was pushed down when the cork handle was pushed down but I thought it was fixed to the top of the wooden insert - its a mystery.

Thanks all for the good ideas

Jim