I build primarily heavy offshore rods that are put through their paces with Giant Bluefin Tuna, I coat the entire blank with epoxy to protect the blank, every now and then the epoxy cracks completely around the blank almost in a perfect line. The epoxy I use is touted as extremely flexible and overall it works well, does anyone have any ideas as to what would cause this problem, I am awaiting the manufacturers response also.

Why coat the entire blank? It already has a very durable finish on it.

Epoxy isn't a good blank coating. Try a urethane product instead. They're harder, tougher, lighter and more flexible.

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Thanks Tom ,any recommendations on urethane, I see Aftcoat is a modified urethane

PermaGloss and LumaSeal would be excellent products. Check the archives here for how best to apply either.

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Just be careful to test a different finish before coating an entire rod. Since some of these products are "hot", they may interact in a negative way with the finish that may already be on the rod.

Be safe

I've had the same issues with cracks in the epoxy around the blank especial noticeable over abalone sections. This happened on rods that I tried mixing Prokote and Threadmaster together to get the best features of both products. I've since gone to straight Threadmaster and haven't had the problems.

Bruno,

When you say abalone sections to you mean an area of the blank entirely wrapped by abalone or a shape cut and applied like a decal would be applied to a smaller area of the blank? Just curious. I'm assuming you mean wrapped around.

John,
The area that is totally wrapped with abalone such as the butt wrap and between the rollers.

Hi Bruno
I agree 100% it is more prevalent over the abalone that I use on the butt sections only, I learned the hard way not to use abalone under the guides, it was a nightmare for me and will never do it again. These cracks are also completely around the rod in one section between two guides, there are three different cracks in this one section. The rod is brand new and just sent out last week, I need to find out fast what the problem is, I have not mixed different epoxies so that is not the issue.

ED

I coat heavy blanks every once in a while
But
I thin my finish to a light or even a lighter then light What i want is a coat of finish that COVERS yet is not Heavy Sort of like a thicker permagloss
A light should work yet a little thinner even better You will have to play with how thin
I also use this as a blank coating and this is a lot better then any HOT urethain
Klass Kote check them out

Bill - willierods.com

Ed,
Hopefully Kevin from Angler's Envy responds to this. Maybe he's seen this before. I've built about a dozen rods using abalone and had this happen to 3 of them. They were the ones that I tried the mixture of the two brands of epoxy.
Bruno