It's 12:40 AM and I'm rather annoyed about my newly aquired REC Butt Lock reel seat. In case you haven't seen them, they are sold through Cabelas and are very similar to the butt lock seats used on Orvis fly rods. Anyhow, I recieved my seat this afternoon and was initially thrilled. I immediately went down to my lair and carefully assembled it. As I waited for the epoxy on the seat components to set up, I carefully dremeled out a perfect recess on my cork grip, which by the way was made up of the 14 best cork rings out of a lot of 50 which cost around $45 (keep this in mind). I then went on to try to dry fit everything together on the blank. Immediatly I realized that the seat's wood insert would need to be reamed to fit the blank. No problem, I reamed the seat and had a perfect snug fit without the need for an arbor. "Perfect!", I thought. The grip also fit the blank and seat very well. At this point I was extremely happy, to say the least. I was just about ready to mix up some epoxy and glue the grip and seat. However, in my moment of joy, I decided to see what one of my reels would look like on this unique seat.


That was the single smartest thing I've done in months!!!!

Not only did my Orvis Battenkill BBS III not even come close to fitting this seat, but neither did any of the other six fly reels I own. The wood insert on this seat is at least 3/8 of an inch too short. When assembled the, the seat simply doesn't open wide enough to accept the reel foot. So, now I have a seat that is useless (and probably on it's way back to Cabela's) and a beautiful cork grip that will only work with a seat that has a top hood with an OD of a little over 3/4" or larger. After over two dozen rods completed, this is the first seat I've ever encountered that had such a glaring problem in regard to fitting reel feet. I've had hoods that don't grip certain feet very well, but never have I had a seat with this problem.

However, I'm very thankful that I didn't glue that Cocobolo nightmare onto my blank. Very, very thankful.


Kevin

Kevin,
Could a longer wood insert help? Just a thought as I am not too familiar with that seat. If so, you might contact Les @ Inserts by Les unless you have a lathe?

What size reels are you using? Is it that the threaded barrel just won't un-screw far enough? If so is there a chance epoxy found its way out the back under the barrel without being able to see it?

Or is it just a REC screw-up putting the wrong insert in the package?

Just trying to see what could have gone wrong because I have seen several rods with that seat and they worked okay. They are a pretty nice looking seat.

Hi guys,

I just got off the phone with Cabela's and REC. Turns out that the wood insert supplied with my seat was a 1/2" shorter than it should have been for that seat. Going to be getting a new insert mailed to me. I have to give both companies credit for good customer service. (thumbs up)

Kevin

I had a similar experience with a custom made insert (absolutely stunning work) that was cut to the maker’s standard length. My uplocking seat was already mounted on the blank. When I attempted to insert the reel foot into the upper hood, the lower foot wouldn’t clear the uplocking ring. The upper foot was unable to slide forward enough to allow the lower foot to clear because of the angle of the upper foot as it approached the hood.

I corrected the problem by using a sharp screw driver as a chisel to remove some of the wood under the upper hood. This adjustment allows the angled reel foot to enter the hood deeper than previously, creating clearance for the lower foot. A dab of wood finish on the area under the hood makes it nearly impossible to notice the alteration.

Jeff Shafer

Generally, the insert needs to be at least 40mm long between the hoods in order to fit most of the popular reels out and around.

I had no doubt that REC would take care of the problem for you.

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Hi There,

I have quite a bit of experience with these seats and have been working with REC. The wood arbor has to be 3.52" in length for the seat to accomodate most reels. I hope this is of some help. Good luck.

I have dealt directly with REC for several purchases, and although the order has not always been filled to my satisfaction the first time around (I'll spare you the details), customer service is excellent, and I have gotten what I wanted eventually and am very happy with them. For aesthetically pleasing reel seats, they are hard to beat.