how much would 3 medium coats of epoxy on a 12mm diameter blank weigh? doing a tiger wrap in the split part of my rod im building and cant decide wether to install the VSS seat uplocking or downlocking. uplocking (KDPS nut is below main vss grip) balances better but is less comfortable to grip than downlocking which u prefer at this point just for comfort reasons. however, if i go with downlocking the rod will be quite tip heavy which is why i would like to know your estimations of rough weight.

the rod is an ultralight 1-2kg 7 foot

Impossible to give you a weight on something like that - you'd have to try it and see for yourself. I doubt you would ever get enough epoxy on there to bring the balance back to the butt. If you wanted to do that, and there are pros and cons either way, you'd likely have to do so by adding weight inside the very butt of the rod. And, putting that weight at the exteme butt end will do more, with less, than by putting it anywhere else.


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Tom; I like to trim some thread off the seat and set it down locking. Trim just enough so that the hood will clear the reel foot you are going to use . Then I add weight to the very butt. Sometime that is just enough to get what I want.

Tom Slater, which blank are you using for this rod?

If at first you don't succeed, go fishing, then try, try again.

I think it's going on either his GUSA Pioneer 70L (did I get it right Tom?).

Downlocking is more comfortable. Trim some of the threads off the reel seat, and trim the KDPS sleeve back as well. Look inside the KDPS and you'll be able to see how far the threads go. I am pretty sure the KDPS can be trimmed to about an inch long (max.) without affecting how securely it can be tightened. It's just a matter of gauging how much of a foregrip you'll need. This will reduce weight ahead of the reel seat by a bit.

Also remember the tiger wrap and 3 coats of epoxy will add weight. How much? Not sure, but it's likely not to be enough to balance the rod. How long are the grips on the split? Making them a little longer would also help with balance. All this will do is make the split a little smaller for the same handle length.

yep you got it right ted pur70ul

thanks guys was just an idea i had

will do some playing