Hello all. First post here. Do you have a recommended length for the rear grip on a light rod (spiral wrap with conventional reel)? What about front? I was originally planning on keeping it the same as a live bait/slow trolling rod with aluminum gimbal > 10.5" hypalon > aluminum reel seat uplocking > 8" foregrip. I started tucking it under my arm and the rear seemed a little short. Thoughts?

I actually started building rods because majority of factory rods had too short of a butt for bottom fishing. I personally build all my bottom set ups with 15 inch rear grips. I also prefer a rubber gimbal over the aluminum. Aluminum looks nicer, but it will bruise you up pretty bad unless you are wearing a belt of some sort. I like 10-12 inch fore grips, sharks and amberjacks are inevitable, and it’s nice to have the longer fore grip.

No real need for a gimbal on a spiral wrap is there?

Gimbal is nice as it helps keep your setup from bouncing all over the place in the rod holder when the boat is underway.

That's the great thing about building your own stuff. Build it to fit your comfort level. If you put the rod butt on your waist to fight the fish you can get away with a shorter butt. If you like it under your arm a longer butt may be more to your liking. For jigging I go under the arm with a longer butt, and for bottom fishing I put the butt on my waist with a shorter butt and longer fore grip.

Yeah, I put a gimbal on there for the ride out. I have gimbal covers with rounded ends for fishing time. I don't know if this makes sense but I usually hold the rod under my arm while waiting for a bite but the butt on my hip when I get bit. So I was thinking of going to more like a 13" rear with a 6 to 8" front.