Hi,

I recently finished two all roller offshore trolling rods. It was my first serious butt wrap and came out pretty decent for a first try (if I do say :-) ).

When I finished with the first coat of flex coat high build thinned with acetone to flex coat specs I got serious bubbling in the butt wrap section. The guide wraps are perfect.

One rod is much worse than the other.

I tried heat, brushing, prayer but nothing really worked. Now it is cured and not to my standards.

I have heard people talk about stripping and refinishing but I have no idea how to do that without ruining the decorative wrap.

Any ideas?

Thank,
Joe.

Try cutting the bad spots off with a razor. Careful not to get into the thread. Then just re coat. I have had good success cutting filing and sanding spots and re coating. I never had good luck with Flex Coat and have switched to TM lite.

About my 10th rod and the first time I've had a problem. Thanks for the advice.

Joe.

Joe,
I know that you thinned the finish with acetone per flex coat specs, but if you have not tried it before, mix your finish and apply it with no thinning.

If you need the finish to be a bit thinner after application, just apply a bit of gentle heat.

I never like to mix any solvent or thinner with any finish. You never know how solvent is going to react with the blank, the blank finish, or thread or thread wraps.

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I know that you have spent time with your butt wrap. But if the fix doesn't come quickly with minimum effort and a perfect result, just bite the bullet, clean off the finish and cut off the wraps. Start again.

Be safe
Roger

Roger,

Thanks for the advice. I only recently started using the acetone thinned epoxy on the first coat. I liked the results better than what I got when using CP as the first coat.

I like your suggestion though. Since this is only the decorative butt wrap...I can fish the rod this season and then over the winter I can cut off the wrap and redo it.

Thanks,
Joe.