I have a rod wrapper that i am not happy with and am looking for a hand wrapper that is efficient, inexpensive and gives good service. i have looked at a flexcoat one and a wrapper f rom cabela that can be fitted with a motor and uses rollers instead of felt. one is @ 65 dollars and the other @126 .I do a rod or so for myself but would like to do so as a hobby more often.
have any of you seen or used either and is the price difference justified for the roller set up.

If your going to spend that much I look the Anglers Workshop wood wrapper with felt. Looks like a better value and they are very nice looking. They don't take up much room to store and handle a good range of rod lengths.

There is a company on @#$%& that sells one that I bought for like 50.00 very nice. Go on @#$%& and type in rod building in the search area and scroll through that and they sell 2 different kinds. Just something else to look at. Scott

If your not going to build your own, which I suggest only because it is fun, I would go with the anglers workshop model also. It is a great wrapper and well made. I have seen it at anglers. The uprights are are set up just right for easy movement. They also have a finish motor/ dryer set up that compliments the hand wrapper and a very reasonable price. You will be into all of it for under 100.00. Get one of their catalogs and check it out. Good stuff from anglers!. Tom

"WE" would be the above mentioned company with the Flex Coat wrappers on @#$%&. Our store there is "cmcustomtackle" We sell a LOT of those Flex Coat wrappers.

There's both the "HW1" and "EW1". The HW1 offers easily adjustable rod supports through a series of pre-drilled holes in the base and sturdy metal pins fixed in the bottoms of the supports. It also has two thread tensioners and an outside rod support (which you'll need). The EW1 is a bare bones basic wrapper that's known as "The Traveler". The supports are fixed, it has a single thread tensioner and you're on your own to craft an outside support. These ALSO are both made to a standard height to work in conjunction with Flex Coat's Drying/Finishing motors as well as their variable speed power wrapping heads.

Both of the above mentioned wrappers DO use felt on their supports. Flex Coat also offers three different hand wrappers with roller supports. The "SW1", SW2 and "SE1". The SW1 will work with Flex Coat's power heads just like the units mentioned above, but I'm not certain that the SW2 will. It's a different configuration. The SE1 actually clamps to a table/bench edge rather than sitting on top of it and it's pretty reasonable at $69.

There are photos fo the above on the equipment page of our site [] I don't think I have the SE1 on there, but I THINK we have it in stock. I'll check stock and get a photo uploaded there ASAP.

Watch the "no name" stuff built in someone's garage on @#$%&. Many of the units we sell are to customers frustrated with some wrapper or dryer they bought there to save $20. DRYERS ESPECIALLY! The money you saved on a cheap dryer with a surplus motor won't be much of a value when you wake in in the morning to find the motor shut down or dropped the rod after you went to bed! I think you can get and HW1 and a BR72 dryer for about $100 and a LOT of people go that way.



Mark Griffin
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C&M Custom Tackle
San Dimas, California

The Flex Coat HW1 is an excellent wrapper at an excellent price. I have had one for about 15 years. You can't go wrong with it. Personally, I wouldn't get a power wrapper or expensive unit until I got enough rods under my belt to really know which way to go with it since there are so many types available.



Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!

I agree with Mike! I started to suffer from a wrapper obsession that was much like my REEL obsession. The problem is, the wrappers were a LOT harder to hide from the wife!!

I started with a hand wrapper(s) and suggest that to our customers as well. In MY opinion, it's an important part in getting a FEEL for wrapping without the blank roaring around at a bunch of RPM's, overwrapping accidentally, etc... You'll also find that even after you DO graduate to a power unit, you'll STILL have use for your hand wrapper ( Extra long rods, etc...) and even though most power wrappers HAVE a drying function, a stand alone unit will always come in handy.

Just do your homework and think ahead before you jump in. I guess since you posted here asking, that's exactly what you're doing!.

Mark Griffin
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C&M Custom Tackle
San Dimas, California

Bill, my suggestion is to just build your own wrapper for starters - it takes minimal tools and resources. As you get to using the original setup, just keep thinking how you want to modify the original wrapper, make improvements and make the changes -test out the idea to see it works. Just keep modififying the original wrapper 'til you have something that work well. It's a lot of fun.

Stan

25 years, a whole lot of rods, and still going strong, though I modified the tensioner last year. [www.jannsnetcraft.com]

I'm still not sure why folks will pay twice as much and more for some wood V-blocks, especially when it would be dirt cheap, easy as pie, and a lot of fun to make your own with some scrap lumber. In my near non-existant spare time, I'm slowly working on my own power wrapper just for kicks. I have all the materials at this point and so far I have less than $20 invested.

Another thing to think about is take a look at the photo board under Equipment and look at the wrappers there. Maybe you can either " add to " the one you have and make it better, or build your own ??

Bill,

If you don't want to build your own, Trust Mark!! I buy from him and Colleen all the time. Great folks to work with, and they don't gouge shipping costs. They charge you what it costs them nothing more. So many @#$%& sellers are Gouging costs that I watch very carefully who I buy from anymore.

Bill in WV