Kind of a weird question I know:

I have a Wheels Reels, Inc. (WRI) Fusion Blank that I built on about 10 years ago. The blank was 13' and I cut 6 inches off of the butt, to build the rod overall length at 12'6". The rod blank is a 60/40 split 2-piece. The butt section for these blanks were built 22mm OD and are parallel section (non-tapered). I still have the 6 in cut-off piece and want to reattach it to the butt section before I re-build the rod, in order to build the rod overall length at 13'0". Just for background, these blanks were rated as follows from WRI: 6 to 10 oz, Heavy Power, Fast Action. (ie,with the 60/40 split and thick-walled, parallel section, the butt is STIFF).

Anyone done this? My biggest question, I think, is was if the best material, (solid or tubing) to epoxy inside of the the 2 sections. Ive thought about aluminum tubing, soild fiberglass rod, etc., but wanted to check here as I assume someone may have better suggestions/experience. Also wondering about amount of overlap inside of the blank would be best, what, if any treatment on outside for repaired blank would be best, knowing that I will likely be covering the entire repair area with shrink tube type grip.

Thanks in advance!

Thanks,

Scott Hunt
scotthuntemail@gmail.com

There is an article in the library here on this very topic.

...............

A hickory,oak, or maple dowel 1ft. long inserted from the butt of that 6" cut off so that it extends 6" into the blank will be strong enough to support the extension. The only pressure that piece will have on it is during the cast. I would not use hollow aluminum tubing. Solid fiberglass rod would also be a good replacement for the wood dowel.

Dennis J. Danku
(Sayreville,NJ)

you can go to the tree nursery or the home improvement store and see if you can get one of the fiberglass support poles for sapling trees and fit it to the size you need epoxy it up good and let it cure and your good to go

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

Tom's idea is the best and all the info you need about overlap is in there.

Before I started building for myself I had a rod made by someone I met on one of the fishing sites. I fished the rod for a month or so and the handle separated at the reel seat. Since the rod had a "lifetime" guarantee I sent it back. The gentleman sent it back to me with a note that he could assure me it wouldn't break in that spot again. A couple of years later the reel seat started loosening up and by then I had found someone locally to build for me. I gave the rod to him to see what he could do with it and got a call to come by his shop. When I got there he showed me the "guaranteed" repair which consisted of a 10" carriage bolt inserted up through the butt of the rod with a half a pound of epoxy holding it in place.

I personally don't recommend that method.........

Thanks everyone for the info. I saw the repair article in the library....Thanks Tom for that reference. Really helps understand the overlap "calcs" better just like Spencer referenced. I think my biggest challenge in going to be finding a suitable outer sleeve with the right fit/material.

I may end up bailing on the entire idea, as another local builder is offering a great $ to buy the rod from me as is (get right to the point about economics that Ralph hit on in the article)...certain WRI blanks are in good demand, as they are not made anymore and are have a good number of diehard followers on the old drum/outer banks circuit. Great blanks for sure.

Thanks again!

Thanks,

Scott Hunt
scotthuntemail@gmail.com

Being that when a rod breaks it's usually the tip section, you might be able to find someone willing to part with a remaining butt section.of the rod you have.

Great idea Mark. The only challenge there is that the WRI butts are coveted/valuable as they can interchange with some other tops. The tip sections are so heavy on these type of rods, that normally you dont see them break very often. The more I look at the situation, I think that a longer plug/ferrule on the inside and no outer sleeve might be the ticket because of the fact that the "repair" is at the last 6 inches of a very stiff butt section. Thanks again!

There is no problem with extending a rod with an inserted piece of blank, it also may be easier to find an old blank that will fit inside the blank you have . Over sleeving would require stripping the rod down, a lot more work.
Norm

Thanks Norman,

I listed above that its a 60/40 split...it may actually be more like a 70/30 split. Either way, the great news is that these blanks are always built with all of the guides on the tip section. When/if I extend the blank, I will have to cut off and relocate/replace the reel seat, which is easy enough. Main thing Im looking for now is a parallel wall solid rod or tube to use for an inside plug. It looks like I can get something like that in glass or carbon, in the form of a remnant, for relatively cheap from somewhere like Grainger or elsewhere online. Im not a full-time builder so I dont have access to scrap blanks/sections, particularly not of this larger diameter, parallel wall/section, and stiffness.