I am building my first rod and will be used to troll offshore. It is a black MHX black with a flat finish. I have wrapped the roller eyes and do not like the flat finish of the rod blank.

Can I coat the remaining rod with epoxy?

Will it crack under stress?

Is there an alternative?

Any advice would be appreciated to this beginner.

Epoxy is the wrong product for this. One of the moisture curing polyurethanes like Lumiseal or Permagloss are appropriate, much thinner, lighter, flexible, glossy, tough. There most likely will be mentioned other options, but they will not include epoxy. The ones I mentioned need to be used in a well ventilated area, they dry very fast giving little time to apply. There are special techniques for applying them which I hope other more qualified builders will offer. But do not apply epoxy until you learn all the facts about what you want to do. Not impossible, or even that difficult, but you need to know the process and appropriate materials.

Check the internet for videos using the search term Lumiseal videos or Permagloss videos.

Coating the rod should be done before wrapping the guides on. Now using the atmosphere cured urethane's will be more difficult as they cure rather quickly and normally should be wiped upon a bare blank. Rod wrap epoxies are not made for coating a blank. You can mask off the guide wraps and use a spray gloss coating like a Krylon product.

Thanks guys. Live and learn.

Should be done before wrapping the guides, but can be done after. No reason why these products cannot go on over the epoxy on the wraps. Unless I'm mistaken. If I am, someone will surely tell me.

Adding weight to a rod blank trades performance for appearance.

Kind of reverse building but all is not lost
go to the home repair center and get a can of Clear gloss spray and then carefully tape off the wrappings tent the rollers and apply light coats of spray to the bare spots while the rod is vertically from the tip with a piece of just plain old string or old line let it dry for about half hour and go back and re coat making sure you have covered the exposed parts of the blank and they have a shine.

The best day to be alive is always tomorrow !!
Think out side the box when all else fails !!!
Wi.

or maybe dip it like the boo builders. lol.

I would advise not to dip a rod with roller guides already on it.

Thanks Guys. I appreciate the help and showing me mercy. As a professional firefighter for 25 years I do know from experience that your co-workers can be tuff.

Please continue to help us beginners. We welcome it.

Thanks

Mike

Phil Ewanicki Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Adding weight to a rod blank trades performance
> for appearance.


It's an offshore trolling rod...I doubt weight is of much concern.

But very good thinking for other applications.