I have been building fly and spinning rods for about 12 years but have never built a casting rod believe it or not. I was asked to build a 7' SCII casting rod for a friend who is taking retirement. Normally on a spinning rod of this size I would use a 17mm seat. The exposed casting seat that fits this rod (.52 butt) with max blank exposure and min gap is a 16mm. Am I on the right path when determining the size seat I will use? I bought a 17mm exposed seat along with a Fuji non-exposed seat since this was my first attempt and have a deadline.

Walt,
Haven't had my coffee yet, so I'm not all here. I'd think you'd be using around a 16 mm exposed blank reelseat with a 11.5 mm or 12 mm hole in it depending on your rod taper and where you put it.

Persoanlly I have not seen an exposed Fuji reelseat that is a size 17. The numbers I have seen for the reelseats only states the size for the exposed area. What you want to do is figure where the reelseat is going to be located on the blank and where the exposed part would be, measure the diameter of the blank there. The look for the closest size reelseat to that diameter. I usually get one that is slightly smaller and ream it out to make it fit the blank just right.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/23/2006 12:02PM by Mike Sledden.

Got it. I had not had my cup of coffee either. I was thinking in terms of real seet length. When I said the 16 mm fit, I did just what you both said. I was just concerned about the seat length. I know what I am going with. This casting rods, which I thought would be easy to build, is kicking my rear. I know have a knew respect for them. Thanks.

Forecast, Am Tack, and I believe Pac Bay all make 17 mm exposed blank reelseats but they start where the 16 mm sizes stop. The 16 mm will fit low frame bass, the Abus to 6500 size. the Calcuttas thru the 250 size, and the Quantum Capo low frame. The 17 mm will fit the next size reelfoot.

Walter:
Do what Mike Sledden suggested.
He is right on target with exactly what I do.