I work at a print shop and all of our laminates, papers, vinyls and adhesives come rolled on super heavy duty cardboard tubes. They range from 36"-61" in length and are 3" in diameter. I recently had to ship a rod that was 7'6" and couldn't find PVC pipe that the rod would adequately fit in or that I felt would properly protect the rod. We throw away 100's of these tubes a year. Any local print shop would gladly give you their extra tubes. I will try my best to describe what i did with the tubes to ship the rod.

You will need 2 or 3 tubes, cut 2 of the tubes down to whatever length you need to fit the rod. If you have a 7' rod cut 2 pieces down to a little over 3.5'. Tape the tubes together to make one long tube. Get another tube or a scrap piece of the first 2 tubes, this piece should be about 18-24" long. Split that piece in half length wise so that you have 2 halves that are 24" in length. I use gorilla glue but any adhesive will work. Glue the 2 halves over the seam in the long shipping tube so that the the halves act as a splint over the seam. I used ratcheting tie down straps to secure the glued pieces while the glue set. Zip ties or even tape wrapped around the "splint" pieces would also work. Once the glue is set you have a super strong tube that can be made whatever length you need.

I know that shipping rods can sometimes be a dilemma, especially for us hobby builders. Contact your local print shop and I'm sure they would be glad to give you all the tubes you need as they end up in garbage, they may even give you some of the plastic end caps although a good tape job seals the ends nicely. These tubes are super heavy duty, they are the same thickness as the Tackle Warehouse rod tubes. Hope this made sense and maybe will help someone out.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/25/2010 11:52PM by Joe Robertson.

I just use either the tubes from the blanks I buy or go to the plumbing supply down the road and buy a section of pvc pipe, which comes naturally in 10' lengths. I think the last length of 3" I bought was only a few dollars. I don't worry about end caps, some bubble wrap or paper and tape works fine.
If you after longer tubes try a carpet or flooring center as they will have 1/4" wall flooring rolls to dispose of. The same for places that deal in fabric or make curtains or shades but there again the length is limited. I've gotten a few 14' rolls from carpet stores, cut in half their perfect for rods.
Even a hardware store will have tubes from clear vinyl or sheeting they sell. That's often in pretty large rolls if they sell green house fabric or vinyl.

If you ship UPS, there's no such thing as being too heavy or too strong, I've seen the break just about every type of tube you can imagine.
They busted a bundle of blanks a few years ago which were packed in 4" white PVC pipe, they were 6' offshore blanks, a dozen of them bundled together. It arrived crushed and broken in two places with a "Your item was damaged in transit, so we opened it to inspect it" note.

FedEx has been aces so far, even a few severely under-packed rods have arrived here safely. One made it in one piece even just wrapped in brown paper. I find that if you do ship in a box, fill the box with foam peanuts, that way its not likely to get crushed or bent as easy.

Drain pipe at home depot 4" od - 10' long. I pack with newspaper and use USPS.

Bill - willierods.com

Use the cardboard tubes at your own risk. I used to do the same until UPS broke one right in half along with the $350 rod inside. Now I only use heavy guage PVC and I have a commercial account with FedEx...better and less expensive than UPS. The account with FedEx is easy to set up.
Good luck.
Capt. Rick Bennett
Rod-Man Charters and Custom Rods

Rick, I will have to talk with you about Fed Ex, I've been using UPS. No damage problems, but I guess more expensive. PVC drain tube has worked well for me.

I have found 3" and 4" drain pipe to be perfect ... VERY strong, VERY crushproof, fairly light and yet a touch flexible - it doesn't shatter like Sch 40 PVC. Bubbles in each end to help cushion the javelin toss impacts are a must. FedEx Ground (commercial account) is my carrier of choice, no problems at all.

I use SC40 PVC...its not the weight that makes is cost money to ship...its the size...

Scott Sheets
www.smsrods.com

I use straight Sch 40 pipe and insure the heck out of it. If my rods get broken, they will pay dearly for them.

All,
Great comments.
With respect to bigger and thicker being better for shipping containers statement:

I just don't think that it works for shippers and shipping damage.

Any of the common plastic drain tubes, any of the common cardboard tubes- thick or thin wall will work just find to ship rods and will get to the customer in fine shape - AS LONG as the package does not get caught in a conveyor.

If the package gets caught in a conveyor - it really doesn't matte how thick the walls of the container are, or how have the packing is, the conveyor WILL snap the package in half.
These conveyors are carrying hundreds or even thousands of pounds of packages at one time. The jamming of a tube in the conveyor will not stop the conveyor, it will simply keep going.
The hope for the builder and shippers of products in tubes, is the hope that the bulk of these tubes will NOT be put on conveyors. If so, the tube is playing a game of chance as to whether it will make it to the end of the conveyor or not.

In one year, I had blank damage occur by every shipper - UPS< FEDEX< USPS - they all broke the blanks being shipped to me with no problems. All of the blanks were in different types of shipping containers from cardboard, to schedule 40 pvc. All were snapped in half like a matchstick.

Bottom line, pack reasonably well - insure to the maximum and have faith that the shipment will get through.

Out of many years of receiving and shipping blanks and finished rods, this one summer with damage to receiving blanks by each of the carriers is the only shipment problems that I have had.


Good luck
Roger

i use the 2'x3' pvc downspout tube from homedepot. 10ft for 7 bucks. the rectangle shape works great for spinning and saltwater rods with tall guides. i also ship usps and have had very good luck,no broken rods yet!