Building a 9'6 2-piece century slingshot rod rated for 3/4-3 oz. I was going to put on titanium K double foot guides, 30,20,10 with size 7 single foot runners, size 8 tip. It was a toss up between the size 7 and 10 runners simpy because I have the 7s on hand. . Plan on using 20-40 lb braid and up to 50 lb braid. I've got the guides taped on and placement looks good but the size 7 runners just look small. Guess I'm accustomed to seeing the bigger guides on factory produced surf rods. Do you think such a setup with the smaller guides will hold up to casting 1-3 ozs lures for stripers / blues? Thanks, Mark

Go with how you feel.
If you feel that the #7's are too small, then by all means remove them and replace them with runners with which you are happy.

It matters not what others think. It only matters what you think.

If it were my rod using heavy line and large knots, I would certainly be using the size 10 runners. You only have to have a single line jam with knots or other issues a single time and you will hate your decision to go with the smaller guides.

Good luck

Marc,
Will your braid to leader knot be passing through the guides on the cast, or will the knot be outside the tip/runners ? Something to consider in the equation.

Use an FG leader to braid knot and do not worry about it passing through the guides. Size 7s will work fine, you could even go smaller.
Norm

I originally had size 8 runners but went down to 7 and did testing with 50 pound braid and no issues whatsoever . I never use anything close to 50 pound braid i just like it for testing guide setups , i tried the KW 30 , 20 ,10 but found the jump from the KW 30 to the KW 20 very extreme and left way too much of the blank unsupported .

The reel i'm using determined the spacing , it put the choker at 80 inches initially but tweaking revealed a spot of 76 1/2 inches to be optimal.

After ridiculous amounts of testing and tweaking i found the KW 30,25 ,20, 10 to size 7 runners is perfection in spacing and during test casting , i scrapped the size 10 double foot K in favor of a single foot KT 10 . Blank is 12 feet

The fellow rod building members here were instrumental in helping me get it right . Good luck on your build



PS: Kudos on your choice of a size 8 tiptop , thats what size i chose as well as i found the 10 and 12 size rings overly large and unnecessary .



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/16/2017 03:19PM by herb canter.

Mark,

I am currently working on a 9'6'' blackhole 2-5 and looking to get beyond the standard KW 30,25,20,10 with 8 runners and tip.

I am waiting on a back order of 25, 16 RV's. In the meantime I'm playing with SV's blocked up to the height of the RV's, KW 6 runners, 8 tip.

This is looking like a game changer for me. Smooth and quite on the cast. 40# braid to 50# floro with FG + Rozuto.

The KW 6 runners: BIG IMPROVEMENT.

Charlie

Thanks for all the input. I've been back and forth several times now. Still am. Going with the smaller guides was causing me some some anxiety because of my lack of experience with smaller guides on such a rod. I'm not too worried about the leader or knot as I typically don't use a long leader. I've got the smaller guides ready to go and I'd have to order the size 10 running guides. Paralysis by analysis. -Mark