Howdy all
Going to take a stab at my first surf rod. 10 Foot Seeker ULUA. Spinning. Is regular nylon in size "A" okay to use or should i be looking to some size B or C thread? thanks as always


Also - do folks generally suggest underwraps on surf rods or can i go without them? thanks



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/13/2009 06:51PM by Mike Rademacher.

A is fine, but you might want to go larger - you won't incur much of a weight penalty on larger surf rods and may find C or D easier to wrap with over the larger guide feet. You don't need underwraps, but you won't hurt anything if you use them. If you do, use A for the underwrap and C or D for the overwrap.

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I thought the Seeker Ulua blanks were classified as jigging. Are the characteristics close enough to be used for either surf or jigging?

Not knowing which Seeker Ulua blank you purchased, it would be difficult say if you need to under wrap the guides. Some of the Seeker Ulua blanks are glass and others are composite. Some glass blanks do require an under wrap to prevent the guide foot from digging into the softer glass (as compared to carbon fiber). A key issue is the have the bottom of the guide foot smooth and free of burs.

If you have a power wrapper, use size A or C. If you are doing this by hand, you want size D thread.

Don

Don Becker

Tom, Don

Thanks for the quick rely.

Don - you are right - I should have been more specific. Its a super seeker baby ulua - east coast spec blank. it is composite graphite/glass.

Mike,

Generally, composite rods have the lower part of the blank encased in graphite, while the upper part is mostly glass. This is not always the case.

The earliest composite surf rods that I am aware of, were on the Big Island of Hawaii. The fishermen used a fiberglass boat rod as a tip on heavy bamboo cane. Later, Conoflex developed the flick tip. This is very similar to what we normally think of as composite. It provided a tip with better visual bite detection and durability.

The Fenwick 16810 was a large fiberglass surf blank built in the USA, then Mexico, and finally in China. I did see one of the Chinese blanks where no under wraps were used and the guide feet has pushed through the fiberglass wall. I'm sure quality control is better today.

To err on the safe side, I recommend you use a under wrap for your guides. You can use size A metallic to dress up your wraps while preventing wear by the guide feet.

Don

Don Becker

You don't need an underwrap on that blank. If your building it concept with a lot of tip guides it can make the tip too floppy. Try and keep the weight down and let the blank be it self! I have one built with stainless and one with titanium. The stainless one is getting dusty!! great blank for pencil popping, there isn't one better!!

Thread won't keep a guide foot from being pushed through a blank wall (thread is very soft) and I'd suspect that somebody simple used way too much tension when wrapping, but underwraps aren't going to hurt anything on such a heavy rod.

I had 2 of the Fenwick 16810 up until a few weeks ago. I hated to sell them but really had no clue as to what I'd ever use them for. Steve Sink from Lexington picked up one - he likes the really, really big stuff for Hatteras.

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