I'm new to this and am going to refurbish a couple old fiberglass trolling rods. I did not measure before taking all of the old guides off and painting the blanks (dumb I know) and so now I'm at square one. I'm planning on putting a roller stripper and a roller top on them and regular boat guides in between not sure what sizes I need either? The reels will be Penn Senator 4/0 and 6/0. Actually I may put all regular guides on the 4/0 and skip the rollers.

Shawn,

Static load the rod for spacing in between the stripper & tip guides. If it looks good to you; you're probably good to go!

Don Campbell
don@sensorfishingrods.com

[anglersresource.net]

Thanks, I was looking at one of the other old rods similar to one I stripped and there is 1 roller guide 3 regular guides and a roller top. I've read some things that say 1 guide per foot plus one and the top, these rods are like 6 ft or 6'6 that would be 7 guides and a top? Maybe what I read is not suited for big game trolling rods?

[www.rodbuilding.org]

.................

Maybe the original spacing stunk:)

Seriously, read the articles, search posts, and do the static load testing. The first time or two will take a little time/effort. Afterwards it will be fast and painless. Then you will never need advice on guide spacing and will always know you have the best possible setup. Powerful stuff!

BTW, try it on a lighter rod first. Easier to see on a lighter rod and those old boat rods almost didn't care where you put the guides. Be still, you will do much better than the original setup.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

Shawn,
What's the distance from reel seat to tip top.
What's the diameter of the tip.
How many guides do you wish to use ?
I can provide you some starting points based on number of guides.

Gene Moore

Shawn,
If you are using roller guide and tip and are using tall boat guides you don't need much more than about 4 or 5 guides on this rod.

Basically put guides on the rod where you think that they should be.

Put on the reel of choice, thread it through the guides that are taped in place. and put a really good bend on the rod, by pressing the tip on the floor in the direction that the rod will be bending during the fight of a fish.

Then, have the line tightened, so that you can see how the line is flowing down the rod. If you have enough guides and in the correct location, the line will not be touching the rod, and the line will be following the contour of the bent blank.

If you find that
a. either the line touches the rod or
b. the line doesn't follow the bend of the rod, then either change the location of the guide or guides or add one or more guide as needed.

Good luck

To Start
One guide per foot
then static test Add or Delete as needed
Jim gave you good advice

Bill - willierods.com

Eugene Moore Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Shawn,
> What's the distance from reel seat to tip top.
> What's the diameter of the tip.
> How many guides do you wish to use ?
> I can provide you some starting points based on
> number of guides.
>
> Gene Moore

.294 is the tip diameter, from reel seat to tip is going to be roughly 50 1/2 inches the grip will be 4 inches or that's what I plan on ordering.

I'm also not sure what sized guides to get. Might use up to 80 lb mono on it. Top will have a size 12 ring.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/04/2014 05:33PM by Shawn Engel.

Shawn,

Looks like 4 guides is sufficient

Distance in inches from tip
7.3, , 15.5, , 25.0, , 35.7


Gene