Does anyone know who I can purchase pink and or purple grips from on the left other than Merrick or ACK? I wan't to build each of my girls a rod for Christmas and I think they would really eat that up. I don't have a problem getting them from Merrick through ACK, but I'd like to view a color photo of the grips and Merrick's online catalog is in black and white.

Does anyone know if it is possible for someone without a tax ID to get their hands on a color catalog from Merrick so that it would be easier to know what you want when you go through ACK to order? Thanks again for the help fellas.

TJ

Tim,
I know Mudhole used to have some colored EVA but I haven't checked lately. Not sure about the pink but I seem to recall purple. Randy.

Hi Tim,

As far as I know you can't get a Merrick catalog unless you have a tax ID. Besides most of Merrick's catalog is Black & white. What kind of rod are you building for your girls? Maybe you could look for a pink blank. Mudhole has pink blanks but you'd have to check and see if they have a blank that would fit the type of fishing you do. Soon I will be building a new rod for my wife. Pink plank (from Mudhole) with blue grips. Looks really sharp.

I know Merrick has pink EVA blocks that can be turned most any size/shape you want, I'm not sure about purple. If you would like to see what the pink looks like let me know and when I go to the shop tomorrow I will take a pic of the pink block I have and email it to you. I will also see if I have any purple. I have most of the colors that Merrick carries but don't remember purple.



Hank
On The Rocks Fishing
Wells, ME.

Tim, If you can't find one with the sponsors, let me know. I'll build them for you. No extra cost just the material and shipping.

Mark Syck

SYCKO Custom Rods
There Are No Limits To The Imagination

Geez, the grips are like $4 each, just buy them and see what the colors look like yourself. Purple looks like Easter egg purple, like a Pastel. the Pink is a light Carnation Pink. IT's not like you have a choice in buying different colored Pink or Purple grips - teh ONLY ones you will get will be teh ones MErrick has, regardless of who you get them from. They are all the same for htose colors.

Tim,
While finding colored grips in pink or purple might be difficult, DonJer Products (sponsor on left) has a flocking kit that can be added to a grip to produce the colors that you need. I just finished my first grip with the mini-flocker kit and it looks quite good. The kit is very easy to apply and the finished product looks much like EVA foam. See here for the color chart [www.donjer.com]. You could even put both pink and purple on the same handle if you wanted to.
Good Luck,

Lynn
Santa Rosa, CA

you can see the actual colors on the Merrick website if you look under their components section (not in the download catalog). they have all the tube colors posted and all the flat colors.

The biggest problem you will run in to is Hole size. As far as I know, none of the round stock is available with an ID smaller than 1/2". Don't know if you can shim it somehow or not. Maybe someone has some ideas.

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!!

Thanks for all the help guys and thankyou Mark for your genorousity. On the advice of Lynn, and after checking out Donjer's site, I think I'll probably try my hand at flocking. They have a hot pink color and a royal purple that I think would be just right. I was afraid that the EVA grips in the colors I wanted would be pastels. Thanks again all.

TJ

Tim,

The Donjer web site shows the pink and purple flock as available in the Suede Tex, NOT the NYLON with is the one used on rods. The Suede Tex is not suitable for outdoor use!

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!!

Mike is correct on the pink and purple Suede Tex flocking material. It will not work on rods like the Nylon material will. I too was looking for pink and purple handles and I pretty much came up with nothing. The only place I found pink and purple EVA was through Merricks and I had no way to buy it without a Tax ID number. I ended up using cork for a handle and purple/pink hologram guides, a lot of pink and purple thread wraps and an epoxied marbled butt wrap in pink and purple over white epoxy. It came out great and in fact it came out much better than I had hoped for. My wife just loves it and now every female who sees it want one just like it. I can't figure out why these rod companies do not make more blanks, grips, guides and other building supplies in purple and pink. There truely is a market out there for these colors. Rod building manufactures seem to be targeting just men and I think they are missing a lot of sales by not targeting women too.

Rich Matranga
Folsom, California

Mike is correct on the pink and purple Suede Tex flocking material. It will not work on rods like the Nylon material will. I too was looking for pink and purple handles and I pretty much came up with nothing. The only place I found pink and purple EVA was through Merricks and I had no way to buy it without a Tax ID number. I ended up using cork for a handle and purple/pink hologram guides, a lot of pink and purple thread wraps and an epoxied marbled butt wrap in pink and purple over white epoxy. It came out great and in fact it came out much better than I had hoped for. My wife just loves it and now every female who sees it want one just like it. I can't figure out why these rod companies do not make more blanks, grips, guides and other building supplies in purple and pink. There truely is a market out there for these colors. Rod building manufactures seem to be targeting just men and I think they are missing a lot of sales by not targeting women too.

Rich Matranga
Folsom, California

Buy the square and bore it yourself, end of worrying about bore size, and cheaper to boot.

Hmm...I guess back to the drawing board. Thanks for letting me know. I totaly missed that one.

TJ

The purple eva grip color is fantastic. They do make eva in 1/8 bore size but the colors are more limited. You could inlay the light pink "tube" eva with the zillion other shades of pink eva that come in flat sheets. You could glue up a ton of flat stock in the hotter pink shades to get what you want. The light pink is a great color as is by the way. Inlaying/alternating pink eva with red burl rings looks killer as a different option. Also - did you think about mixing red and white flock together? It probably would look like pink until you were right up on it. Marbelizing over cork with pink/purple would be another option. Get a can of pink spray paint and paint any grip you want. Merrick carries pink cork tape in the economy grade. There are tons of options out there. Get some RIT dye and dye your cork. Don't forget to buy an anodized purple reelseat to go on the rod.

Tim:

Follow this link to see the colors. [www.merricktackle.com] The Moosekin® Brand is the best quality EVA foam you can buy and the prices are very reasonable even if you buy them through us.

Here is our link for pricing [www.ackfishing.com]


Give us a call, if you think the color chart helps. We have the purple and many of the colors in stock.

Pete
ACK Fishing & Tackle
866-285-0673

Peter,

What ID's are available?? I think that 1/2" is the smallest, isn't it?

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!!

Yes, unfortunantely, 1/2" is the smallest ID available, in the majority of colors. We do however have in 3/8" ID

Maroon
Red
Blue
Black
Yellow
White
Sky Blue.
Hunter Green also.

More in the smaller diameter are coming, but that is what is on hand at the moment. I'll have to update my site page. They recently came in.

Thanks

Peter Maltby
ACK Fishing & Tackle
866-285-0673



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/25/2006 08:31AM by Peter Maltby.

FWIW, here is the direct link to teh color chart...Maroon is not one of the colors listed.

[www.merricktackle.com]

It is available despite the fact it is not on the chart. I have at least 50 of the Maroon grips 3/8" ID sitting on the shelf next to me. It is the color Maroon. If anyone needs a picture of what the Maroon color looks like I'll be happy to send it.

Just send me an e-mail. I'll add it to my site so there is no confusion.

Kind Regards,

Pete
ACK Fishing & Tackle
pmaltby@ackfishing.com
866-285-0673