Hello, never done any rod building or repair before but I'm looking to get into it. To start off I've got some repairs and modifications for some of my current gear in mind.

I've got a surf rod that I really like but want my hands a bit wider for casting. Is it possible to move a reel seat after it has been installed on a blank. I'm assuming that it's been stuck in place with some sort of expoxy? How do I go about loosening it up?

It is nearly impossible to just move the seat without destroying the seat. Then the guides would need to be removed to reinstall the new seat.

Have you thought about extending the rod from the butt end to make a longer handle?

Vance,
Very simple.
Cut off the rear grip.
Cut off the front grip.
Use a dremel tool to split the reel seat in 1/2 the long way on each side of the blank. Use a screw driver with a twist of the blade to split the seat ahd have it off the blank.
Use some heat to soften the glue and scrape the glue off of the blank.

From the butt of the rod -
Slip on a new fore grip.
Slip on a new reel seat.
Slip on a new rear grip and go fishing.

Good luck

Vance,
But actually, if the rod is in good shape and you like the rod - leave the rod alone, grab another blank, guides grips and reel seat and build a new rod with the handle configuration that you really like.

For the most part you can do like Roger lays things out above but if the reel seat is mettle you can just cut off the fore grip on top and just heat up the reel seat and the epoxy will simply melt and loosen up so that you can just move it up of down on the blank but it will take much heat.

Scott Armstrong Wrote:
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> It is nearly impossible to just move the seat
> without destroying the seat. Then the guides
> would need to be removed to reinstall the new
> seat.
>
> Have you thought about extending the rod from the
> butt end to make a longer handle?

Thanks for some of the suggestions, I really wanted to avoid desroying the reel seat. I was hoping there was some sort of solvent that might break down the epoxy.

The rod is an unevenly split two piece, so the butt section has no guides to contend with.

I had thought about extending the rod but wasn't sure if that was possible. It's only 11' so making it a bit longer would work quite well, I really only need to add a few inches to make it much more ballanced and comfortable for otg casting.

So how do I go about making it a bit longer?

Click the Library button above. There is a very nice how-to article on extensions, and a host of other topics that are good reading.

Joe

Click the Library button above. There is a very nice how-to article on extensions, and a host of other topics that are good reading.

Joe

Thanks for that Joe, I hadn't checked out the library section yet but I will take a look.