Hello all. I have just recieved my H&H building kit which comes with a Pacific Bay Uplocking U3 reel seat. When I put the reel seat together the insert seems rather long. If I put the reel (Loomis Venture 5) in the seat, to secure it the lower hardware has to go past the thread to secure it tightly. Do you have to trim these wood inserts to fit or am I doing something wrong? (I'm new to the flyroding stuff)
thanks,
Tom.

Does the reel fit tightly in the seat when tightened? If so it is probably just fine.

Joe

Tom,

First make sure that you have assembled it correctly! If you have, you should not have to trim anything. Fly reel seats are made to fit the standard foot of modern fly reels, the Loomis Venture included. I would call Bob at H&H and tell him about the problem; I'm sure that he will help you resolve it (probably by sending a new insert). Assuming that you have a u-5 reel seat, the only way to solve it yourself is to trim the end of the wood that goes into the hood (opposite the threads).

Your reel seat should look like this....

hood hood ring end
<--------------------wood insert------------------||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||->
hood hood ring cap

BTW, make sure that the hoods face each other before you glue the components. Many of us have made that mistake!

Jim

If there are still threads ingaged it should not be an issue but you CAN shorten the wood insert. with the hardware unscrewed all the way put your reel in and see how much distance between the uplock collar and the reel foot. remove some of that, maybe start with a third of the excess. be very careful not to take too much or you will not be able to get the reel foot in when all is assembled. you just want to make sure you have plenty of thread engaged when you tighten down the screwlock but you want to have enough room when you unscrew it to easily remove or attach the reel. if you are going to cut it try to use a miter box so you get a square cut.

Here it is without the white spaces removed...

hood ....................................................................hood ring........... end
<--------------------wood insert------------------||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||->
hood ....................................................................hood ring ...........cap

Jim

From your description I am not certain where your problem is but the reel foot on a Loomis Venture reel is slightly thicker and will fit a seat a bit different than some other reel feet. I know that I find a slight difference of a few threads when using my Venture reel in a seat designed to fit a Ross.

Stan Grace
Helena, MT
"Our best is none too good"

Thanks for the input. I have done some measuring and from the top of the reel seat to where the thread begins is about 2"5/16 in length. The reel foot is about 2"6/16. The hood ring slides right over the foot, so much so that about 1/16 of the foot is exposed and would come in contact with the hardware when tightened. I think I better call Bob beforeI start chopping. Thanks, Tom.

Whoa boy, verify verify verify, before you start mixing the epoxy.

Bob has always been fast in responding to my questions so just check with him. He is one of many of the great service providers here.