Hi Everyone,

I'm going to be building a cobia rod for a friend of the family. I found this post of a beautiful cobia rod:

[www.rodbuilding.org]

I'm curious, what is the best way to combine the EVA rear grip with this Fuji style rubber mushroom butt cap? Should I just shave the eva down and mount the rubber cap on top of the EVA or do you cut the eva, build up some tape or something directly on the blank and then glue the cap on top of that?

Thanks for the help, Jeff

The second method you list is the easiest.

Jeff, I like to cut the EVA above where that type of butt cap goes (leaving the blank exposed) and build up the blank with mesh tape, masking tape, or a hard bushing if the diameters are more than 1/4" difference. Just before I install the butt cap (Ido this as the last step) I turn down the EVA to match the diameter of the butt cap. I don't like the EVA under the cap because I've seen them come loose on some factory rods. When the handle is tapered to the cap it gives it a nice finished look. I would post a picture but the last rod I did this way was picked up yesterday. Judging by your previous work, whatever you come up with will look good.

Thanks for the kind words, Bruce. I really appreciate it.

I like the idea of a hard bushing. Where can I get something like that ? Similar to the flexcoat reel seat material or harder ? Can it be reemed ?

Thanks again,

Jeff



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/2007 05:24PM by Jeff Shields.

Definanatly, the second way but instead of cuting the EVA figure out how far up the butt cap will go on the blank, mark the spot and slide the EVA down the blank to this point. To ensure that the EVA does not slide past this point I wrap a few wraps of masking tape at the spot where you want the EVA to slide to and it will block it from going any further. Remove tape when the glue is still wet or it is a PITA.

Scott's right, Slide the EVA to the point where the butt cap will mate-up. The last one I did called for a last minute change in butt caps (EVA to rubber) that caused me to have to cut the already installed EVA. My minds shot trying to do a buttwrap with some slippery NCP thread. I pack, it moves, I touch it , it moves, I look at it wrong, it moves. I'm ready to cut the whole thing off and start over. lol.

I'm guessing something like this would work ??

[shop.mudhole.com]

Thanks for the info guys, mucho help as usual. Jeff

The standard Fuji or Pay Bay brick foam arbors in size 20 will fit the small Fuji mushroom cap perfectly.

Mesh tape works fine, but you can do an arbor if you like. That mushroom cap looks the same as I just put on a rod I posed pics of a few days ago... mesh tape and epoxy on that one. Made sure the hole in the center of the cap wasn't plugged by epoxy (toothpick) and added a 1/8" neoprene disc (with matching breath hole) that fit in the bottom of the cup. Figured the neoprene added just a bit more shock protection to the end of the blank. Lightly file the inside and outside of the blank's cut bottom to eliminate any sharp edge that might help it cut thru the butt over time.