Hello all. I was striper fishing this morning in the surf with my light spinning rod and
on a cast heard a loud pop noise as my tip section went flying into the surf with my
plug. I checked and there was a split,about a half inch,like a hairline crack,right smack dab
in the middle of the male ferrule. It runs down the blank roughly half an inch or so. I was able to
join the rod and finish out the morning. My question is,what's the fix? Do I need to try and epoxy
it or something? Or can I just fish it if the 2 ferrules are tightly joined? My theory is the top section
came a bit loose and caused the male end to split. Seemed sturdy as I continued to cast it but
I'm leery. Thanks,
Robert

You'll want to fit and adhere a thin wall internal sleeve inside the male ferrule. You'll have to do this from the butt so it'll take a bit of care and precision measuring. First find a scrap section of carbon rod blank and insert that up through the butt and on through the male end (remove the rubber plug if there is one in place. Then mark the end of the scrap section where it protrudes from the top of the male section. Remove the scrap section and mark it so that the scrap section will cover the crack with perhaps another half to 3/4 inch below the crack. Cut at that point. Clean inside of rod blank. Prepare water-break-free surfaces on both. Apply two-part epoxy on the scrap section just cut and push into the butt until it is even with the top of the male section. Go fishing.

Quicker to write than to do, but it can be done and done well. You just need the right donor section so the taper's match fairly well. Some careful measuring and fitting can save your rod.

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

Since that ferrule is loaded in compression would not filling the end with liquid epoxy work? Foam earplugs can be compressed then pushed down into the "tube" to keep the epoxy where you want it. About 3/4 inch deeper than the female ferrule overlap?

Robert,
However you do it - make sure you bind the outside of the male ferrule to keep the split together while exerting even slight pressure from within.
I would put a layer of plastic wrap around the male ferrule to deal with epoxy leakage and then wrap tightly with thread.
Herb

Robert,
Pretty simple:

1. Take masking tape and tightly wrap the outside of the male ferrule to prevent expansion.

2. Take a 4 inch piece of solid glass stock from a piece of solid rod blank or a fiberglass driveway marker.

3. Chuck the piece of stock into a variable speed drill.

4. Then, either using a piece of taped down coarse sand paper, or a 100 grit sanding belt on a spinning belt sander, bring the side of the solid glass stock in contact with the stationary or moving sand paper belt.

5. Continue this process until you have about 2-3 inches of the piece of fiberglass uniformely sanded down so that it just barely fits into the end of the male ferrule.

6. Mix up a small batch of 5 minute epoxy and coat the inside of the male ferrule and the outside of the solid plug that you have just made.

7. Use the large original size of the plug as a handle to move the plug into the open end of the split end of the male ferrule.

8. After the glue has hardened, use an abrasive cut off wheel in a dremel tool or a chop saw with an abrasive cutting wheel on it to cut off the enlarged section of the piece of fiberglass.

You are now left with a nice solid end on the male ferrule to give you a new long lasting end on your rod section.

The total repair time should be about 10 minutes.

Good luck

p.s.
Herb, if you wrap the ferrule with thread won't you create a size issue with the end of the blank since this is a male ferrule, it fits inside the tip section does it not?

Roger , if what you propose would work , then simply filling the cavity with liquid epoxy would work. What both accomplish is filling the void in the male section with something incompressible. Thus preventing the male section from collapsing. Keep it really simple. It is my opinion that both will work just fine.

:-))
Roger
I assumed all here would understand that the thread wrap is only a temporary compression sleeve. The plastic wrap is there to prevent the oozing epoxy from making the removal of the thread easier.
Herb

Wow some great ideas here! I will report back with some results depending on what I do!

Robert

Good ideas , Herb. I see no reason why a repair would not be successful.