G'day All,

I have a customer who prefers the look of aluminium reel seats on his light spin rods and seems to dislike graphite seats, partly because of looks and partly because in his experience the locking nut on graphite seats seem to loosen with use necessitating constantly tightening it.

I recently built a spinning rod for him and used the Pacbay slim channel lock aluminium seat. Unfortunately this seat, with his choice of reel (a Daiwa Caldia 3000), is also giving problems. The hoods on this seat are quite wide and high, which means that with the Daiwa installed there is a fair bit of wobble of the reel in the seat. I tried a Penn Slammer in this seat and as it has a wider and higher reel foot, it sits nicely in the channel and is held very firmly by the hoods.

Can anyone suggest an aluminium reel seat that will work with the Daiwa reel? The only thought I had would be to try the ALPS triangle seats in the smaller sizes like 14 or 16. Is anyone currently using these seats with smallish spin reels and can they give some feedback? This rod is not an ultralight so a little more weight is not going to matter. The rod is 7', 8-14lb, 1/4 - 5/8oz and used for inshore saltwater applications.

I have just noticed that Fuji have introduced a backlock nut for the new TVS seat. This may also solve the problem with undoing of the nuts, if not aesthetically, for my client.

Any help or comments is, as always, very much appreciated.

Cheers

Jason

I started putting my reel seats on upside down so that they would down lock because I too would have issues with them loosening during use. It solved that problem for me, now they tighten with use. I don't have any advice on them being too wide however, sorry.

Take a look at the Alps triangle seats.
Ive used them on salmon trolling rods, light long line trolling for trout, and some casting rods,
Thay work great and never come loose ever,
and top of the line.

Curt

Stick a small pad of rubber gasket material to the inside of the hoods. The reel seats on lower end factory rods can have seats that loosen, haven't ever had a Fuji or any other quality seats loosen, some are 20+ years old with no problems.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/25/2015 09:02PM by Spencer Phipps.

Fuji also has a locking nut that can be added to there seats
[www.mudhole.com]

Bill - willierods.com

The BACKSTOP™ Locking system from Fuji offers a wide variety of products that totally eliminate hood loosening and they do it with a floating jam nut that won't tighten or loosen when snugged to the hood nut. BACKSTOP™ is available for new TVS and PTS seats in both standard and thread covering models and their are also models for standard seats in sizes 16, 17, 18, 20, 22 and 24. The 2016 catalog is now available for download at [www.anglersresource.net], left hand column toward the bottom. Click "Catalog".

Low-tech, low-cost fix is a half or full wrap of rubber electrical splicing tape over or around the ends of the reel feet. The fix will be invisible and the reel hood will not loosen.

Thanks for the input Guys,

I reckon I'll give the ALPS triangles a go (thanks Curtis) otherwise it might be back to graphite seats with locking nuts.

Cheers

Jason

G'day Jason I have a Caldia 3000 on a rod of mine with an Alps Tri seat & never had a moments problem I set all my own rods up in a downlocking position simply because of the problems that your customer is experiencing .I spent a large part of my life employed in an industry that had a lot of machines that vibrated & that is why I set my rods up the way I do .

Regards Baz

Bundeena
NSW Australia

G'day Baz,

Thanks for that. Any idea what size seat you used? A 14 or a 16 maybe?

Cheers

Jason

G'Day Jason It is a 16 mm I made it about 4yrs ago .My son has pulled some big fish with it over the years & it's always the rod he pinches when I'm not looking .He really likes the combination.

Regards Baz

Bundeena
NSW Australia

G'day Barry,

Thanks for that. You are a champ!

Cheers

Jason