Hello,
I have a BS806 blank and I cannot find a reelseal that Iike....Looks like it will require an 18 or 19 reelseat and was hoping to find an exposed blank or very minimal split reelseat but no dice. Anyone here built one of these rods? What did you use?

Derrick,
What reel are you using? Alot of the larger reels also have larger reel feet which require a larger reel seat for the reel foot to fit in the seat. If you want you can always make an exposed blank reel seat out of any seat with a little work, it's been done before.

It will be a size 200-300 bait caster.

How hard would it be to ream out a size 18 reel seat a bit? What kind of tool would do the cleanest job?

So you don't have the reel yet, my 201 Shimano will fit anything, as do my ABU 5501 and 6501 C3 reels, my Okuma 353 Cold Water won't, I believe the Shimano Tekotas are the same, a least the round reels are, they need a 20 mm seat, same as all my heavier saltwater reels do. A 20 mm fits everything I have, no matter the size, little to big.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/27/2021 03:15PM by Spencer Phipps.

There must be custom reel seat builders/sellers out there somewhere. If you pay they will come.

Spencer,
I have the reels, but it will be a multi use rod. Diawa Lexa 300, Ambassador and Daiwa 200 size reel.

Wish I knew how to link pics. I found a photo of what I want to do on this forum....titled seeker 806 S Glass.

Just go to the picture, copy the link and then paste in your post.
[www.rodbuilding.org]
Looks like a standard Fuji TCSM size 18 reel seat with the the center cut out.
Norm

Fuji also has the PLS casting seat seat in a size 18. It has an exposed blank window in it.
[www.mudhole.com]
Norm

Derick, the late Bill Stevens was a big promoter of Seeker blanks for bass fishing. If you dig though his old posts clicking all dates, including him as an author and a few key words you will likely get some sound advice.

If I recall, when you ream that 18mm seat, it is going to remove the majority of the material in the barrel of the threads and epoxy will seep through when, so you will need to pay particularly close attention to the threads on the barrel. I never felt the need to go to the 8' model, as 7' gets the job done for me on my local waters, so I never built one on the 806. All you do is chop up a standard 18mm seat to get the configuration in the pic.

I will say that on the 706, after reaming both a standard TCSM and exposed blank ECSM 17mm seats to fit that I preferred the standard seat on that blank. Bill recommended the TCSM. The exposed blank seat eventually ended up on a Lamiglas blank that was slightly larger OD. After fishing it for years, I should have went with the regular seat there as well. I love the regular ECSM style seats when 16 mm seats will get the job done, but the cutout just doesn't match up that well with my grip when I go to the 17 mm size.

Mike Harris, who made that image, was a regular contributor as well for quite a while. Dig up some of his old posts and shoot him an email. I bet he'll be willing to lend some advice if you can get in touch.

Thank you for the info....I bought this blank mainly for throwing small jigs on the Jetties and dragging prawn spinners for Spring Chinook. 8 ft is about perfect for both and the blank seems to have good attributes for both.