When I rinse down my rods some of them will get white water spots on the epoxy covering the guides, while the oldest of the bunch the whole blank where it gets washed down will turn grayish white untill it dries out after a day or two. Is this a reaction with water and old epoxy or something else? Would putting a new coat of epoxy on the thread wraps solve this?

Thanks

I have had this happen with older rods I have built and used. They can be restored to beautiful condition with the application of a new coat of epoxy.
Mitch



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/16/2013 07:13AM by Mitchell Karmel.

Moisture is getting underneath the epoxy. The spots disappear as the water dries.

You can clean things up a bit and put another coat of epoxy on the wraps, extending the new application just a tad beyond the edges of the old epoxy. Also make sure to get epoxy in the guide foot tunnels. This is one area that is sometimes not filled/sealed and allows water to wick into the thread from that point.

So how much should I sand down the old epoxy? Take it all off or just scuff it up enough for the new epoxy to adhere good?

Clean it, then scuff it. Then apply new epoxy.

...........

Ok, thanks

Something has cracked or split, allowing moisture to penetrate under and around the guide feet. Did you use guide foot adhesive under your guides before you wrapped and epoxied them? Guide foot adhesive is designed to split and crack under light pressure.

Nope didn't use adhesive. The rods the spots show up on are 2 Ugly Sticks(bought), an old Castaway(bought), a Cabelas Fish Eagle(guides replaced by me), and the rod that the blank turns grayish is an old old Kunnan. I redid that whole rod (handle and guides) and its just the blank that turns, the new epoxy over the guides stays fine. On the Ugly Sticks it is also the epoxy over the butt wraps that gets the spots. I can rub or take my nail and scratch the spots off. What has me the most perplexed is if it was the water it would be all the rods, if it was bad epoxy that I had it would be all the rods I had rewrapped but it's not. I have another rod I redid the guides on it the same time I did the Cabelas rod but the spots dont show on it and I used the same epoxy.