A local tackle shop gave me a surf rod that has cork tape wrapped on the butt end and no reel seat, The owner wants a plate reel seat installed on it.I never installed a pate reel seat. How far up from the end cap should the seat be mounted. Can the seat be epoxied over the cord tape before wrapping?Or should sone of the cork tape be removed to allow direct contact between the blank and reel seat?

Peter,
I have not used a plate type reel seat, although I build numerous Tennessee handles. My understanding is the plate type seats are meant to only be taped in place, possibly temporarily wrapped (zip-tied?), to afford the luxury of repositioning the seat to whatever location a specific fishing situation may dictate. I am interested to learn what experienced others have to say. I hope this helps as a starting point.

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.

The plate seats are made to be wrapped in place, but you can tape it temporarily until the customer determines where he likes his reel, if he is not already sure of that location.

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The ends and the dip in the middle all get wrapped, saw on the other day not wrapped in the middle.

Does the plate get wrapped over the cork grip?

Yes, it can be done that way and very often is.

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Peter,
One other thing to consider; if the (conventional) reel has a bottom clamp, no seat is required.

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.

The bottom clamp will not stop a reel from spinning on the rod blank.

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While one might initially assume attaching a conventional reel to a rod with only a bottom clamp and no seat might allow the reel to spin on the grip, three of my frequent fishing buddies have a total of five seatless rods used for yellowtail and none have experienced reel slippage. While I personally do not particularly care for the set-up, I have witnessed them landing 25lb YT which the general consensus would consider to be quite hard-charging fish. Now that I am giving it more thought and considering a plate-type seat lacks a 360* internal bonding surface to the blank as a typical tube seat, I question how secure they actually are when attached with thread wraps; the thread is certainly strong enough but slippage may be more of a concern here.

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.

Properly installed, the plate seats will not slip or spin.

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I spoke to the owner. He`s putting either a Van Staal or Zeebass spinning reel on the rod(Century Sling shot). He previously taped the reel on place but now wants a plate reel seat put on.

Be careful to size the seat correctly. I do not know Zeebass sizes, but Van Saal 150
will fit in FS 6 on up to FS 8 in chrome uncushioned, in Black LS 7 stainless, NS 7,
FS7 all cushioned, VS 300 FS 8 chrome,LS stainless black, NS 7 black,FS 7 black
with LS 7 the longest reach. These are the reels I have and sizes I have. I have
used these wrapped and epoxyed on cork grips and on cork tape for years and they
do not turn or spin. Have used them with conventional both with and without trigger
add-on and have never had a problem.