This is a St. Croix SC5 that broke while fishing about a week ago. Caught a small snag and the rod just snapped. Of course it's my favorite rod, one of my first builds and I put a lot of work into it. It broke above the first guide up from the reel seat. My question is, can it be repaired? I'm willing to give it a try but am not sure if can be fixed. I think that gluing in a piece of blank inside as a pin might work. It will change the characteristics of the rod somewhat but I think it's low enough on the rod that I might be able to get away with it. I would appreciate any thoughts on this.

[www.rodbuilding.org]
[www.rodbuilding.org]

Steve Hartzell
Lake Conroe - Willis, Texas

Yes it can!!! Check out the last article in the library by Ralph O'Quinn, very informative.

______________________________________
Super Tight Lines......Don

Steve,
Pretty simple.
Put an inner sleeve of an old blank that matches the blank shape and size at the break and extends at least two inches on each side of any broken or splintered parts of the rod.
Then, put an outer sleeve on the outside of the break, extending up at least 2 inches past any break.

When I do this, I do the inner sleeve, blank and outer sleeve all at one time using 30 minute epoxy for adhesive.
As the glue starts to set up, be sure that you use DNA or other solvent to completely clean up any excess epoxy on the outside of the blank.

Then, put 1/4 inch wraps on each end of the over sleeve, add a coat of finish to the wraps and you are good to go.

By the way, since you are so close to the butt of the rod, you can drill a hole in the butt cap of the rod of a size that will allow the matching tapered blank to slip up the rod butt from the butt cap area. Just use a piece of rod or other to get the inside of the original blank well coated with glue as you slide the inner plug in place.

By the way, as you do this repair, do NOT cut or trim off any of the broken parts of the rod.
Rather, use the broken parts of the rod to act as an alignment key to insure that the rod is perfectly aligned. Also, the jagged ends of the break give added glue area to make a stronger joint on the rod.

If you make the inner and outer plug out of an old fiberglass blank, the softer fiber glass plug and outer sleeve will not stiffen the rod as much as if you used a piece of graphite rod blank.

The entire repair should take you about 30 minutes, without doing the wraps.

p.s.
If you don't have any old blanks to use as patch material, go to a donation box at a sporting goods store, or the salvation army or good will. Normally you can pick up an old rod for 25 or 50 cents.



Be safe
Roger

Steve: Is this a one piece rod, or two piece? You might want to contact St. Croix if it is a two piece. They will fit a new top section to the rod, and then all you have to do is wrap it.

Mike Bradfrod
R.M.B. Fishing Rods
Nampa, Idaho

Thanks for the info Roger, it all makes sense. Mike, it's a one piece rod. I'm going to contact St. Croix about a warrantee on the blank but since I've got so much time invested in the build I'd like to do something to salvage this rod in some form.

Steve Hartzell
Lake Conroe - Willis, Texas

You paid enought for it

have you asked St Coix about a replacement or what ever
Call them i thought they had a Garantee

Bill - willierods.com

I'm going to ask for a replacement blank but would like to make something of the broken one. I have a lot of work into the that grip.

Steve Hartzell
Lake Conroe - Willis, Texas

Steve,

It looks like you have some splintering of the graphite, on both sides of the break. If it were me, I would not leave the broken edges attached; instead, I would cut out the damaged part on both sections and replace it with a section from a blank with a corresponding taper. An inner sleeve, an outer sleeve, and a replacement section.

I would replace the damaged section, because eventually, with continual bending and flexing of the rod in that area, the cracks will expand and lenghthen, coming out from under your repair, and cause another break.

You did say this was your favorite rod, right? If its like my favorite, you use it alot.

Ralph's repair article outlines this type of fix, real well.

Chris

Chris,
After looking at the picture, I have to agree with your assessment about cutting out the damaged section, due to the type break on this blank.
At that point in the blank with little taper, I am not sure that you really need to add any replacement section. I would guess that a chop of an inch on each side of the break would take care of the broken clean up of the blank.

With that small amount of blank removal, I doubt that you would have issues with inner and outer sleeving of the blank.

With respect to the outer sleeve, since you have a guide wrap about 2-3 inches in front of the break, it would likely make sense to run the sleeve up to the guide wraps to help blend in the over sleeve with the rest of the blank.

Be safe
Roger

Thanks for all the suggestions. I think I can take my dremmel tool and cut off a small amount of the frayed area, a quarter inch on each side should do it. Although there is fraying it doesn't go very far.

Steve Hartzell
Lake Conroe - Willis, Texas

Steve,
If you don't want to cut off guides and remove the tip, nor remove the butt cap to come up from the bottom of the rod for the repair, use an inner sleeve that is a nice fit on the top section of the blank.
Then, use an outer sleeve, that is a nice fit on the lower portion of the blank.

But, to get the sleeves to fit the other portion of the blank without removing guides or butt cap, you will need to sand down the blank and or sleeving as necessary to have the other portion of the sleeving fit.

If, the taper is minimal, the sanding changes will be minimal as well.

Be safe
Roger

Good idea Roger, I've been thinking about that. I could probably get an inner sleeve up from the butt by drilling a hole in the butt cap and coming in that way without having to remove the entire cap. I hope I don't have to remove all the guides but we'll see.

Steve Hartzell
Lake Conroe - Willis, Texas

Steve,
I have repaired lots of rods without taking off guides or going up through the butt of the rod. Just grind the repair sleeve a bit and use enough epoxy for the repair and you will be good to go.

When changing the taper on a repair section, I just chuck it into a variable speed drill and spin it up with the drill and then hold it against a spinning belt sander that I have in the shop.

[www.harborfreight.com]

I use the part of the sanding belt that does not have a backing section on the belt so that the belt follows the shape of the blank that you are shaping.

Be safe
Roger

Not that it matters now Steve....but perhaps for the future. Are you in the habit of perhaps hooking your lure on the bottom guide, putting the rod in some type of holder, and motoring off to the next fishing spot?

The blanks looks like either it was overloaded....or had some type of impact damage in that area. I see a lot of guys hook onto the lower guide and cruise around with a sinker/jig bouncing against a blank.

If a mistake was made it is best to learn from it if possible.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

Russell I appreciate your comments and they make a lot of sense, but actually I never ever hook a lure onto a guide and I don't have a rod holder on the boat. My boat is an 18 ft shallow draft bass tracker which gets me into the waters I need to be in on the lake I live and fish on. I was fishing with a 3/8 oz small lipped crank bait that only goes down 2 feet at most. I was casting into three feet of water. I caught a very skinny stick up and without much pull the rod it just snapped. I don't think it could have been overloaded. The lure came free and was easily retrieved. I've caught a lot of fish on this rod and have certainly put a lot more stress on it than when it broke. I take very good care of my rods and don't think it had any kind of impact damage. You are right that it doesn't matter now. I've talked to St.Croix and am going to send it to them. They have a great warranty and expect that they will replace the blank. I am planning to attempt a repair on the broken rod but know it will change characteristics of the rod.

Steve Hartzell
Lake Conroe - Willis, Texas