Is there a commercial source for shipping cylinders strong enough to provide reasonable protection when shipping rods and blanks?
PVC with a diameter wide enough to accommodate more than one item I find to be too heavy.
Any advice?

Harry T. Bell

uline has quite a few different thick cardboard tubes in a few diameters and lengths. I have had very good luck with them. Much lighter than PVC.

I use schedule 40 foam core PVC pipe, it's a lot lighter than regular schedule 40, and protects more than a cardboard spiral or convoluted tube would.

Head out to the garden section of home depot. Look for the white and black tubes outside.

If shipping blanks I pack them in a pool noodle. If shipping completed rods with casting triggers or guides in the way, I use the black foam pipe covers they sell in the copper section. They are cut open down the middle and have sticky on both sides allowing you to drop the rod in and seal the foam around it.

Cap the tube ends with PVC or heavy tape and you're done.

I just shipped a 8' rod for $20 through FedEx in-state with the setup above.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/2015 12:38PM by Adam Curtis.

Harry,
Go to home depot or Lowes and pick up a DWV drain pipe. This is thin wall pvc pipe that is much lighter than conventional schedule 40.

For spinning rods, I use at least 3 inch pipe. This size allows for clearance of the butt guide. With a 3 inch dw pvc pipe, you can load about 4 or 5 rods. If you use 4 inch dw pipe, you can load about 10 rods for shipment or travel.

For long fishing trips, I generally use my 8 foot 4 inch tube. This allows me to travel with 10 rods with no issues. 1/2 of the rods go in with the handles at one end. the other 1/2 of the rods go in with the handles at the opposite end of the tube.
Basically interlock the rods, and then slip all of the rods into the tube at one time. Pop on a cap and you are good to go.

The DWV tubes as follows:
[www.lowes.com]

[www.lowes.com]

For shipping, I use either 3 or 4 inch test caps. I sand down the caps until they are just the same size as the top of the pipe. Then, tape the caps onto the ends of the pipe, label and ship.

[www.lowes.com]

The test caps are less expensive than the over the end cap and by sanding down the cap to the size of the pipe and taping in place, nothing on the end of the pipe to catch in the conveyor.

Basically $10 for the pipe and $20 for shipping for a total of $30 shipping for most rods.

Before putting the rod/s in the tube, I always put a rod into a length of plastic tubing. Then, I use an impulse sealer to seal both ends of the tubing to insure that the rods are free of dust and fingerprints when shipping.

[www.uline.com]
The tubing with an impulse sealer works very well to protect the finished rod while shipping and storage.

Be safe