Curious about how you guys mount gimbals on the end of your heavy duty rods. I have a grip that is shouldered to accept a gimbal but I think the EVA in there might allow it some 'give' if you know what I mean. Would a more solid mounting on wood or even tape be better? I don't build too many of these types, just in case you couldn't tell!

I still do it the old way Ed. Two 1/4" arbors made with masking tape then food the areas between with long cure epoxy. I know many have problems with masking tape arbors but for some reason they work for me. I do score the blank and inside of the gimbal.

I use the Mesh Dry wall tape and Kardol

The same urethane bushings you mention using for your reel seat mount will work here, too. Quick, easy and as strong as anything, it's the way I've done it for many, many years. I'm lazy so anything that saves me time over winding tape or packing with epoxy but still works as well or better is the way I go. Even with a simple reamer you can mount a gimbal this way inside of minute or two, tops. If you have the Flex Coat type pilot bits, you can bore and mount your gimbal this way inside of 30 seconds.

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Dry wall mesh tape. If I had an arbor that fit some of the real big ends then I would use them...