I know about the carbon and glass type skins for the hard foam grips, but what about other materials that might work and be quicker to do? Has anyone tried anything else commonly available? Results? I have wondered about just using an epoxy paint on the foam and wonder if that would harden the outside enough to make it durable. Things like cork and EVA are not really that durable anyway. How "tough" would it have to be?

I flocked one. I used 8# foam. Haven't fished it yet.

_________________________________________
"Angling is extremely time consuming.
That's sort of the whole point." - Thomas McGuane

Dents are the main issue without using some type of skin.

For a personal rods fine. For one that I'm selling, no. Replacing a dented grips is an awful lot of work.



....

Riley Rods-Hard Core Grips to Go!-----Carbon Fiber - Composite Grip Store-----Capt Mike's Blog-----No Excuses Fishing Charters

I would imagine that you could put down a couple of layers of hard laminating epoxy, then just heat shrink grip material over it. It will probably still dent though.

could do a wood vaneer

What about sealing it with epoxy then do some marbling over the sealed grip or seal it then hydrodip is something im going to try.

Cheers

Mark Newcombe
Old Bar NSW
Australia
markscustomfishing.com
American Tackle Pro-Staff

Plasti Dip.
Good things:
Excellent grip surface under most weather conditions. Choice of colors, dries in minutes. Can make funky swirl patterns sort of like marbling using a few color mixes. Available as dip or spray. Cheap at around $6 a pint or spray can. Low fumes compared to some stuff we commonly work with.

bad things:
Without a skin, drop grip and well its just foam so it breaks or dents.
With a skin, wow that stuff is heavy so why are you doing foam grips and then making them heavy?
Put some PG on it and call it done forever.

But we all like to tinker.
Actually plasti dip is nice over cord wraps and very pitted or cheap cork, or on factory rods as a restore option for folks with limited funds if most your business is repairs, look at it.

Thanks, these give me some things to thing about. I do not think these grips will break and with the eight pound foam they do not dent easily. But I would like some sort of hard coating to make sure that cannot happen. Will report back after I try a few of these ideas. Thanks.