Last Dec 29th I wrote a question about a handle for a rod I fished out of the lake. I was asked to post a picture but don't know how to add it to this post so it's in the photo section under my name. I want to put a split EVA grip with no forgrip. The rod is a basspro extreme 6'6" casting. I just got home and want to start on it. As you can see the blank comes out from the bottom of the reel seat and I don't know how I have to build the handle. Thanks for the help.

Alex,

The picture:

[www.rodbuilding.org]

The rod looks like it could be a decent rod.

To do what you want, take a dremel tool with an abrasive cut off wheel on the tool and use it to carefully cut through the reel seat down near, but not touching the blank.
Do, this on both sides of the reel seat. The insert a wide bladed screwdriver into the slit that you have cut, and twist the screwdriver. The twisting action of the screwdriver will split the reel seat in half and let you remove it. You can take a pair of slip joint pliers on the fore grip, and using the coarsest part of the plier jaws, chew the fore grip up and throw the pieces away.

Then, use a heat gun or other source of "gentle heat to warm the remaining epoxy on the blank and use a straight razor blade or box cutter to remove the remains of the reel seat, fore grip and rear grip. Hold the scraping blade perpendicular or at 90 degrees to the blank while you scrape so that you do not cut into any of the parts of the rod blank.

When finished, just to a light sanding to clean things up and you now have a rod ready for a new reel seat and grip. When sizing the blank for the reel seat, use a masking tape arbor or other arbor, so that you have the reel seat position enlarged with masking tape arbor or other arbor to be at least as large as the butt of the rod blank. Since you are likely not planning on removing guides and redoing the guides you will need to do all of the reel seat work and grip work from the butt end of the rod. So, any thing that you have placed in front of the butt section needs to be sized up to be at least as large as the butt of the rod, so that you can slide your parts onto the rod from the butt of the blank.

So, when you do the assembly job, you will first slide the reel seat into position and glue it up. Then you will slide on the top part of the split reel seat and glue it in place. Finally you will slide on the butt section of the split grip and glue it in place.
Normally, when doing this you will have a winding check in front of the reel seat, a winding check behind the front part of the split grip and a winding check in front of the butt section of the split grip.

Enjoy the job.

p.s.

Any time that I have recovered a rod off the bottom and decided to rebuild it, I would always strip it completely down to the blank.
Then, I would build a new rod, using the refurbished blank and new components, guides tip top, reel seat and grips.

But, if the guides are in good shape and the blank up rod from the reel seat are in good shape - no need to strip the guides.

Alex,
Here is a picture of a Bass Pro extreme casting rod.

[www.basspro.com]

So, if the reel seat is in good shape, you can just put on a new split grip onto the rod blank and you will be set to go.

The front part of the rear grip just needs to match the angle of the reel seat for a nice fit and you will be golden.

Another article from 2015:
[wildindiana.com]

At that time the price of the rod was $100.

Since the review was from 2015, it is possible that the rod has been underwater for a few years. But being submerged does not hurt the blank or guides.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/29/2018 09:05PM by roger wilson.

Thanks Roger. I was going to use the reel seat but don't know how to ream the EVA to fit where the blank comes out of the reel seat. Do I have to get an undrilled piece of EVA and drill on an angle, or? The guides are good and I cleaned and lubed the Shimano reel and used it last week. I have a couple of Basspro Extreme rods that I use and they're pretty good.

The reel seat for this Bass Pro rod was designed for use with the power hump cork grip, where the cork is thicker above the blank then below it at the rear of the seat. Because of its design this reel seat makes it very difficult to retro fit a new grip. It can be done, but will require a lot of hand shaping and sanding to get it right. I think the best option would be to remove the reel seat and replace with a normal reel seat and grip.
Norm

Alex,
You could run some experiments, but when I look at the picture of the rod - i.e. a new rod; and check the rear grip - it appears to be a simple grip with a swell turned on the grip near the reel seat.

Then, the underside of the grip is sanded off so that there is a swell on only the top portion of the rear grip.
Then, after that is done, the front of the grip is cut off so that the grip now has the correct angle to butt nicely with the rear of the reel seat.

So, if I was doing this grip, I would take the material - whether it is eva or cork and turn the grip to length and shape with a full swell on the front portion of the grip.
Then, I would sand down the under side of the grip to remove the swell on the underside.
Finally, I would chop off, saw off with a band saw or sand off with a disk sander the portion of the grip necessary to get a perfect mate on the back of the reel seat. If you have the tools and a raw grip, you should be able to create the necessary grip in a relatively short amount of time.

Good luck

Thanks Roger. I was thinking about drilling the foam at an angle but your suggestion sounds so much easier so that's what I'll do. I measured and will need a chunk of EVA about 1 1/2" in diameter.

Alex,
As you may note from some of the previous posts - some folks don't like the power hump.

So, if you wish; you can certainly just use a perfectly straight, round grip for the full grip and just cut the tip end of the grip off at an angle and you will be set. No need to put a power hump into the grip unless you want to.

Good luck

p..s.
I happen to prefer the power hump. I have large hands and the power hump fills my palm and makes day long use of a rod with the hump less tiring.

I used a rod with a power hump for about 10 years until it went in the lake last year, and like it too. I have the butt end of a broken power hump rod so I'll try and duplicate it.