Looks like a made a rookie mistake on my second build - didn't do a dry fit w/reel before gluing up. After gluing up the seat, grip and buttcap I find that my reel foot does not fit into the space between the sliding and static hood (not sure if static hood is the right term but you know what I mean).
I have a fix in mind but don't know how to achieve it. Because it is an uplocking seat, if I were to remove the buttcap I could remove one of the two tightening nuts. This would give me the extra room needed (need <1/8") and would leave at least one nut to attach the reel (or I could try to find 2 narrower nuts). The question is... how can I get the buttcap off? It was glued up about a week ago so the Flexcoat is surely full cured. Any ideas? Is this a good solution? Was ready to go after it with brute force and pliers but thought I should ask the experts first.

Don't know what your butt cap is made of, but put it in a poly bag and submerge it in boiling water for 10 min and see if that doesn't loosen up the epoxy. You may have to do it a couple of times.

Another option....shorten the reel foot if it doesn't harm the reel.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/13/2011 10:41PM by Phil Erickson.

What koind of butt cap, what kind of rod/blank? HEat breaks epoxy bonds. BOiling water, heat gun. Kind of depends on the mateiral , and you MUST be careful with the amount of heat you apply

...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/13/2011 10:41PM by Billy Vivona.

The others beat me to it :)

Joe



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/13/2011 10:45PM by Joe Vanfossen.

What a great site. Such fast response.

I'll try the boiling water trick. To answer the other questions... it is a fairly heavy, smooth, solid metal cap. It has a short plug that fits into the reel seat but does not extend inside the blank itself (had to let the seat overhang the end of the blank). I used a metal file to scuff the OD of the plug edge. The seat has a rosewood insert. (I don't think the water bath will harm it?). The rod is IM6 graphite, 4wt.

Do the boilign water, but it' sgonna tak ea while. The heat gun will work quicker, but you cna EASILY overheat the blank and screw things up thta way.

If you use something like a Ziplock bag, there is no reason to get any of the parts wet! Boiling water can effect the Rosewood as it is a very oily wood.

Billy,
You might just sign your posts with just your name. The constant advertising gets a bit old.

Roger

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has done this. My very first build I was assembling a kit from Batson which included a 17 reel seat. It turned out the reel I had needed an 18 for sufficient length. Fortunately I test fit half way through and was able to get it apart before I had the fore grip in place. Anyway, it was a good lesson and a mistake I have not repeated.

It sounds like this is a fly rod-and I thought all fly reel seats/feet met a published size standard? I've never had a fit up problem with fly seats. Good you give some particulars, ie what fly seat and what reel?

Drew

You bad Roger Give it to him

If you do not want to go thought all that

Why not just file the feet on the seat and make it fit Fish it for a while and if you can not live with it -- rip it apart

Bill - willierods.com

Bill - I thought about that but the rod may go to a friend so I don't know what reel it will end up with.

I did the boiling water method and it did the trick. It took about 20 minutes. Unfortunately I ended up with some minor scratches to the edge of the butt cap so I will have to replace it (damaged by pliers even though I tried to protect the finish with a cloth).

I too assumed all seats were a common size but apparently not. A lesson I will not soon forget. This seat from end of grip is just 82mm, the hood is 14mm and 2 nuts are 10mm (5mm each). I compared this to my Mudhole MHX kit rod which has a seat 88mm, the hood is 13mm and the single nut is 7mm. The reels I've been testing are an old Medalist and a new Allen with reel foot lengths the same at 63mm. The new (problem) seat has 12mm less length to fit the reel. Taking one of the nuts off the seat gives just enough clearance to fit the reel without having to jam it up into the fixed hood.
I got the seat, grip and guide set off an e bay @#$%&. Decent enough quality considering this is really a learning rod and price was good at ~$20 but apparently I need to pay closer attention to the specs.

Kurt, it's better to build the rod properly with the right size components, or modifications to compnents > and fix it as you have done, than to hack up a reel. While you recieved solid advise quickly on this post, youhave to be very careful who you take advice from as there are a lot of hack builders who have no credentials or credibility who post on al the forums.

Roger,

Billy pays a fee to add that advertising to his posts. He helps me pay the bills here. You might want to thank him rather than berate him. He's one of the guys that provides this forum for everybody.

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

Tom,
Of course I agree that Billy is a huge source of excellent information. I just knew that you were rather adamant about "spurious advertising" on the site. I appreciate the update about his particular status.

Roger

Billy Vivona Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> you have to be very careful
> who you take advice from

Roger that. Thanks, Billy

Greetings Kurt and All,

Because your time is so important, these are my thoughts:
#1 I'll urge a 'punt' for reset/removal/restart of the handle works.
(eg. because your time and the intrinsic worth of your work product is very important & way..way too 'lasting'..

#2 You have received an important lesson for life (I sure remember my past lessons).
This is also why 'rehearsals' or 'backs-of-envelopes' are ways to maintain our sanity better. IMHOP

#3 My inperfections have led me to this one idea: Never, never let your work product 'out of your hands' when you knowingly see a problem
that doesn't meet your standards.
Its likely that 'others' will also 'see' that flaw that you 'see'..(IMHOP)

Good luck in your craft,

Bob M