Ever wonder just how hot it can get in your car, during the summer, in the overhead sunshine, in the scorching heat of the day, up where your dashboard meets the windshield, in that little infrared pyramid cooker where you sometimes stick a rod tip while traveling?

That's right 170+ degrees Fahrenheit, within 20 minutes of stopping the car, fan and air conditioning. Even while the car was moving, and the air conditioning was running (but not the top dashboard vents) it was 120-140'F while under ordinary operating conditions.

No wonder hot-melt glues sometimes fail when rod tips are jammed up there for too long.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not trying to debate the question of using a hot-melt glue gun or a two-part epoxy to secure your tip-top to the rod tip. If your system works, stick with it.

But I am saying not to underestimate just how hot it can get in that little corner of the dashboard where a rod tip sometime finds itself. ... Temperature was measured by a brand new Taylor large-dial probe-type meat thermometer. (Stainless steel probe; 2.5 inch glass face; needle range 120’F – 212’F, over a circular arc of 120 degrees on the compass. Graduations every 2 degrees Fahrenheit.)

I know that even the low-temp hot-melt glues say they have a 190'F melting point. But that doesn't report a softening point, which occurs before melting (which usually means free-flow). Depending on the brand of the hot-melt glue, and the quality-control of a particular manufacturer, the 170'F may be too close to 190'F for comfort. Maybe your car doesn't get that hot. Or maybe you never have to jam your rod tips into that space while traveling. But I know that happens when surf fishing, and you leave the rest of the rods in the car, as you hop out quick, to give this iffy fishing spot a quick try. … But it is something to think about for some fisherman, and where they park their cars. ... Just a thought, ... -Cliff Hall, Gainesville, FL-USA+++

Cliff,
Thanks for taking the time to report this information. Very useful to all. Though I don't expose the tips of my rod to that zone (minivan) I sometimes carry more than one rod in in the back, stored in a tube. While traveling my car is cool due to air conditioning but while the minivan is exposed to the sun it can get quite warm. Maybe not as warm as the windshield area (triangle) but warm.

I usually try to cover my extra rod with a folded blanket while it's in the back, not only to cover it from prying eyes, but to have at least a temporary barrier while the minivan is warming up.

Thanks again,
Jeff

In this case, shortening the rod from the butt might be a good idea? lol.

Thanks Cliff
I'll stay with 5MIN epoxy
Sounds like a good place to put the food for lunch. Nice cooker.




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/16/2005 07:38PM by bill boettcher.

Interesting stuff. Omelett anyone?

"Don't get me wrong - I'm not trying to debate the question"

No debate with me! Several years ago I convinced myself when I began getting rods back in with tips that had rotated out of place. I was using hot glue designed for tip tops made by a widely known manufacturer - it did not matter, the stuff softened enough to tips to shift. Fortunately I had less than a dozen rods out there with the hot glued tips before I realized the problem.

Since then I have gone to using 5min epoxy to bond tips to the blank.

Lou

I had as much trouble in the summer as the ice rods placed on the defroster to melt ice off. The guys tended to leave them over the heater all the way home and the tips moved on them. That's when I switched to the 5 minute epoxy.

Putter
Williston, ND

Guys,
I've been burning my hands on my steering wheel and seat belt buckle alot of days a minimum of five times or more in a day on consecutive days the past several weeks when it's been hot.
I finally had to get my air conditioning in my car fixed a few weeks ago. Now the air conditioning is worth more than the car ! lol
As the interior is a dark red I know that car gets really hot and would never even consider putting any of my rods in the interior anyways. I always keep my rods in the trunk and usually covered in their rod bags. The trunk is the coolest part of the car I have in the hottt summer.
While traveling around in Virginia last year I DID get out a couple of rods out of the trunk and wipe them down with cool water on some paper towels to cool them off though.

Randy Wilinski