Hi, I'm building a stand up rod on the calstar baja boomer blank. The butt measures 1.18 inch, and the largest I.D. aluminum gimbal I can find is a 1.125 (1 1/8"). I'm going to end up having to cut about 3 inches off of the butt of the blank to get an aluminum gimbal on, and was just wondering if anyone knows where I might find an aluminum gimbal with at least a 1.2 inch inside diameter. I've tried Merrick, mudhole, and the rod room....those are my main suppliers, and none of them have anything larger than 1.125. With so many of the stand up tuna blanks having such large diameter butt sections, I would think that someone would make a slightly larger diameter gimbal just for that purpose. Just wondered if someone might know..........Thanks..........Rance.

If I am not mistaken there is enough "Meat" at the Butt of the Blank that you can carefullysand / Grind the end of the blank to fit the gimbal

Thanks.....I'm going to cut 2 inches off anyway so that I will end up with 5'6" on the finished rod. I think witth a Winthrop AT tip plus the gimbal, it adds about 2". I might not have to sand to much after cutting the 2"'s off. I'll just have to look and see... This is going to be a standup rod for bluefin at Prince Edward Island, so there will be a lot of pressure on the gimbal, and tip section, so i dont want to sand much off. Thanks for the suggestion .

Any thought of going with an aluminum butt? Probably a number 4 would work for you.

That would involve cutting the Blank back from the Butt over a foot

Yes, I thought about an aluminum butt Todd. Although nearly all the rods I build are for others , this one is mine, and I'm not real big on uni - butts or stora-butts for myself, although an aluminum bent and or straight butt would be great for this trip to PEI, in the future for my normal trips, I would prefer just a regular rear grip. I'm going to put 1/6 inch cork tape between the reel seat and gimbal, and then do a tuna cord(butt cord) wrap over the cork . That should transition out really well with the gimbal and the reel seat. It's real easy to replace the tuna cord once it gets worn , so that's also a plus. Thank you so very much for the reply....I know that would work well.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/09/2013 11:40AM by Rance Keilstrup.

Barry Thomas Sr Wrote:
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> That would involve cutting the Blank back from the
> Butt over a foot


Hi Barry, your right, I would have to cut off at least a foot to add an aluminum butt I had the blank measured with a caliper before it was shipped to me. It is 1.180 at the end of the butt, and the gimbal ID is 1.125, So I only need to reduce the diameter down barely over 1/16"for the gimbal to fit , and probably another 1/16th for epoxy..........cutting off 4 inches will give me that and maybe even a little more. The blank is 5' 6" so 5' 2" plus the winthrop tip and gimbal should give me a finished rod about 5' 4" That should be a good length for Prince Edward Island Bluefin Tuna.. I really wanted 5' 6", but 5' 4"will be fine............thanks so very much.........Rance.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/09/2013 11:36AM by Rance Keilstrup.

I'm a little different. I like shorter rods for big fish (PEI bluefins typically fit that category). I've built stand-up rods as short as 4'8". I personally like something in the 5' down to 4'10" range for big fish. My point is that if you get down to 5'4", you should be just fine.

The BB is listed with a butt diameter of 1.105"...I'm suprised yours measures 1.18"...that's a big difference.

Jay Lancaster Wrote:
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> I'm a little different. I like shorter rods for
> big fish (PEI bluefins typically fit that
> category). I've built stand-up rods as short as
> 4'8". I personally like something in the 5' down
> to 4'10" range for big fish. My point is that if
> you get down to 5'4", you should be just fine.
>
> The BB is listed with a butt diameter of
> 1.105"...I'm suprised yours measures
> 1.18"...that's a big difference.

Your exactly right (The bluefin there average between 750 and 800 pounds), the shorter the rod, the better leverage you have, and I'll be happy with 5' 4". I just don't want it to be any shorter than that. It's an expensive rod to build for just one trip, 5' 6" is a great length for the long range Yellow Fin trips I go on, so 5' 4" is a good compromise, that way I can get a lot of use out of it on future trips. Here's the listing I have for the Baja Boomer.......BAJA-BOOMER
5'6"
60-130
S/T 80-100Lb.
2X-Fast
1.175.........is the butt diameter, although it measured out to 1.18
14



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/09/2013 01:23PM by Rance Keilstrup.

if you don't trust the butt of the rod after sanding it down to fit the Gimbel you could add a 3 - 4" piece of scrap blank into the butt as a reinforcement

Bill - willierods.com

I'm sorry. I was looking at the Baby Boomer diameter.

SAY WHAT ??
i was just saying you can reinforce the butt
Do your own thing
Baby Boomer ????

Bill - willierods.com

Bill have you been drinking again or is the ADD kicking in?

LOL

Jay Lancaster Wrote:
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> I'm sorry. I was looking at the Baby Boomer
> diameter.


No problem at all, I thought that might be the case. Your input is greatly appreciated.

What I have done in the past on a boomer is when I had the gimbal smaller than the blank I reamed out the gimbal and I only take a inch off if necessary and just chamfer the butt end of the blank just to fit the gimbal.

Thad
Dutchman's Creek Tackle