The rod is an All-Star big boy 7'6" heavy fast (this thing is a freakin telephone pole!). Basically it's broken in the middle of the blank underneath the guide where the higher modulus butt section meets the lower modulus top half. I'm struggling with how long to make the piece to insert in it. I read through the rod repair part of the library and all it talks about are fly rods and lighter action spinning rods so I'm wondering what would be the right length for a telephone pole. Also will it be necessary to over-sleeve it or will a wrap with 4 or 5 coats of permagloss get the job done?

David Page
E-town, KY.

David,
When repairing all of the broken rods that come to the shop - I use both an inner sleeve as well as an outer sleeve - that is inserted in the blank, and over the blank by at least 2-3 inches.
For a heavier rod lke yours, I would extend the repair to 4 inches on each side.
I would also be sure to use an oversleeve, in addition to the under sleeve.

One thing that I always try to do, when oversleeving is to use thin wall blanks. Typically the higher modulus. I also taper the ends of the oversleeve to better blend the repair.

If you can tweak the guide spacing a bit, so that you have the guide located at one end of the oversleeve, the repair will be better masked. That may or may not be possible with this particular rod.

Take care
Roger

If you check the article more carefully, it addresses much heavier rods as well.

In most cases and with that sort of rod, an oversleeve is your better bet. Remember, you're not really trying to make the repair "strong," you're trying to return the area of the break to the same continuity of properties it had before it broke. A repair that is much stiffer than the surrounding area is as likely to fail as is one that is substantially weaker than the area around it.

...........

Since the rod is broken in the middle (half?) and its no UL an option worth considering might be to now set it up as a two piece using the metal ferule system. An advantage would be that you wouldnt need to muck around with scraps and offcuts to find compatable tapers, wall thickness and power. Slightly relocating that guide to one side should not present two much difficulties with casting and might also be good chance to reexamine your layout for an even better casting/loading performance in the future.

For the strongest repair, and keeping continuity, I would go with Roger and use an overleeve and inner sleeve, seeing as it's such a stiff rod. Graphite inner sleeve, fibreglass outersleeve. Fairly thick walled for the outer sleeve, as it will take a lot of stress. As mentioned, substantial overlap too.

However, going 2 pce is definitely an option also. Not sure if metal ferrules that large (diameter) and heavy (consequence of the diameter) are what you want. An oversleeve ferrule is exactly the same as the oversleeve for the repair, except that you only glue the tip side. You can also incorporate the inner sleeve (spigot), and glue that into the butt side as well. Same procedure to fit everything as the full glued repair. It is however, quite essential to get the best fit possible for the best bond strength, ferrule fit and ferrule strength. Can be tricky if it is in the area where some compounding of the rod taper exists.

Thanks for the help guys. I thought I had some scrap blanks that would work for the sleeves but I don't so I had to tell the guy I couldn't do it.

David Page
E-town, KY.