I have a few older Perigee blanks and the finish on one has drastically faded. This rod was left in a rod box in a boat that had a cover on it. Could the heat trapped under the boat cover have caused this problem. The finish is very hazy and you can no longer see the gold flake in the finish. The only places on the rod that did not fade is where thread finish covers the blank? I tried buffing the blank but all that did was make a really shiny, faded green finish. Does any one have any ideas?

What caused this? ... PROLONGED HEAT + the VAPORS from the structural plastics & fiberglass that have an air-connection with the locker and sub-deck. It's like a solvent-sauna in there when you leave it there for WEEKS and the sun is beating down on an already old rod-finish. ... That's my hypothesis, anyway.

How to fix the rod finish? ... If you are lucky, it may lose some haziness in about a week. If it does not, then some degree of re-finishing is about all that will restore clarity. ... Otherwise, just ignore it and fish it as is. It should work just fine.

If the foam handles or cork glue did not also get damaged, then the rod blank should be fine, since the cured rod blank and its resins are heat-cured at much higher temperatures than build-up in a rod-locker, and the rod blank should have been able to resist such damage, even if the old rod finish could not. ... IMO, -Cliff Hall+++