Hello,
I am trying to refinish a rod that I had as a child (this puts it abot a 1950 vinatge) It's a 53" solid fiberglass rod I used when I was about 7 or 8 years old. I remember catching monster (2 lb.) bluefish in eastern Long Island Sound. Over the years, someone (gulp) put some type of epoxy over the two guide wraps, probably to prevent the dried old thread from unravelling. The reel seat has been brazed in a spot where it cracked. I've removed the guides and tip top, the blank itself had a varnish like coating that I also successfully removed so now I have an opaque colored bare fiberglass stick.
My question is what do I use to coat the rod to proted the bare glass, I donj't really care about color. Do I coat it before or after mounting the new guides.

Thank you,
Bob

Before. PermaGloss would be excellent.

A quick and reasonably good coating would be about 2 or 3 coats of Helmsman Spar Urethane, gloss exterior.

............

Helmsman spar urethane is a good choice, I do it all the time. You can pour it, dip it in a tube, or even get it in an airesol can.

Everything must be CLEAN or you will have problems.

Eastern Long Island Sound? Groton? New London? Did we fish together?

Hi Gary,
Wrong side of the pond, I fished Orient Point west to Wading River.
Tight Lines,
Bob

Robert,
The other option is to do nothing, except after tying on the guides and applying finish to the guides; simply apply a coat of paste wax and buff it down.

Good luck
Roger