I use masking tape on all of mine, but most are for freshwater bass fishing. I just coat it well with the glue and slide the seat on.

Ryan,
I doubt that the need for anything other than tape - if sealed with glue - does not differ for either fresh or salt water rods. If the arbor is not affected by moisture, then the salinity of the water is immetrial.

Roger

Masking tape for this job is a thing of the past. It will work, but there are much better tools for the same job. Just because it's been used for decades and does work, doesn't mean there isn't something superior that has made it obsolete. How many of you want to go back to slide rules?

If you consider it, dry wall mesh tape is better than masking tape in every way. It's just as convenient, it can't rot, and never deteriorates. More importantly, the holes allow epoxy to fill the spaces between the strands and forms a composite structure even better than just epoxy. Kind of like using r-bar in concrete.

Still, with that said, the poly type arbors are even better. I like drywall tape for filling small gaps here and there, but every reel seat I install has a poly arbor.

Drew

I used to use masking tape and sealed it well, but I have had 3 or 4 rods come back with problems so went to adhesive drywall tape and no more problems. I also had a rod that spent two days in the saltwater when it went overboard. Blank was ok, but the reel seat was toast, and that rod was over 4 years old, but the tape went to mush. So now nothing but drywall tape for me.