Wondering about durability of winn grips. I am not a real fan of the looks or the feel. But they would fill a need for one of my builds. First option I have not been able to get ahold of. Anyways I have had some bad experiences with rubber tool grips recoil pads of guns etc. makes me a bit leery of going rubber type grip on a fishing rod. Rod will be a limited use UL. But it may spend a fair amount of time in non climate controlled storage, which is usually not the greatest for rubber. Appreciate any input.

" I am not a real fan of the looks or the feel. But they would fill a need for one of my builds"


Unless this build is for a customer who wants it why bother , you clearly aren't a fan of the feel or looks ? I would never even consider a grip that I didn't like the feel and looks of .

I happen to love the extreme tacky feel of them but I look at them as grips with a limited lifespan . If you don't plan on taking your rod in and out of rod holders all the better. I have a few 'Overwraps' on my surf rods and they have held up, I'm going on my 2rd year . Mudhole tackle had a bunch for half price $9.99 for the 96" inch wrap . I haven't used the other types that are typically used on freshwater rods.

Many people feel differently and expect them to hold up to many years of hard fishing and if the grips were considerably more expensive I would feel the same way but for approx $18.00 for the 96" overwrap it's no big deal to me if they need replacing every once in a while .

Michael,

Are you speaking of the Winn tape and taping over grips or the Winn integrated EVA grips?

If you are talking about the integrated grips then I can attest that they last longer than the wrap in my experience. I built a rod that has now been tournament bass fished for two years and the integrated split grips have held up to constant use and abuse.

I’ve built 2 rods with VSS Winn EVA grips, and both have “worn out” way to quickly, in my opinion.

I won’t use them again.

Winn grips do wear out. The most bullet proof grip are the carbon fiber grips. NFC has CF grips for both the Fuji IPS and VSS seats.
Norm

Everyone I know that jumped on the Winn bandwagon ended up with a mess to fix after a couple of years of SW use.

First of all, Winn grips are not rubber, and they will not age like rubber. Secondly, they have been around for years as golf club grips and are very popular.

However all that said, they do not work well for heavy use and abuse salt water rods! They are especially susceptible to scuffing.

I have built many fly rods with them, some as long ago as 5 years without any deteriation.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/23/2021 12:14AM by Phil Erickson.

Regular EVA will hold up much better. The Winn grips look and feel good when new but the "skin" starts to peel off the EVA core over time and looks horrible. Cork probably last the longest if you take care of it. The new carbon fiber grips will most likely out live the cork if the foam core doesn't fail.

I am looking at the winn grip not the tape. I am considering the compromise just to get the build done. It is for myself. I want carbon fiber. However the particular carbon fiber is only available from a certain supplier, with a reputation of being very slow to ship and we are now going on triple the shipping time estimate.

I am going for a super lite UL trout rod. The reel seat is carbon fiber insert with threaded body on both ends. I am going to use a Fuji SK2 hood on each end. Threaded body will be cut down to minimal amount needed to tighten up on the reel. I want just a carbon fiber hood cover for SK2. Not an actual grip. Only the one supplier offers them. I could use the fuji perfect fit parts. But would be more weight and I don't want the smooth finish of the perfect fit hood covers.

Phil Erickson Wrote:
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> , they have been around for years as golf club grips and are very popular.
>

They have to replace them every year or 2. Not a big deal for golf clubs, but a problem fo rdishing rods. HEre's a post on tackletour [www.tackletour.net]

A friend of mine just brought in seven Hammer casting rods. He wore out the Winn grips on all of them and wants them replaced with CF grips, I now have a trash can full of Winn grip pieces.
Micheal, for the SK2 hidden thread hood you can use the American Tackle CF fore grip sleeve.
[www.mudhole.com]
The CFX CF stubbly fore grip sleeve for the TVS hood will also fit the SK2 hood.
[www.mudhole.com]
I’ve used both. The AT Sleeve in the 3K finish is a good match for the NFC 1K grips.
Norm

Ok winns are off the table.

Norman,I have the CFX stubby fore grip. Was a bit larger than I wanted but leaning that way now. The AT sleeves add a lot more weight than I want. They also don't offer a matte finish 3k fighting butt to match.

Appreciate all the advice and saving me a headache in the future.

The chief component of burl cork grips is - rubber - the same stuff Winn-Grips are made of, but without the flocking. The majority of today's cork grips are infested with large holes and crevices, which are usually filled with some sort of synthetic rubber which looks faintly like cork. I have had good luck filing down bottle corks with a medium rasp and mixing the resulting cork powder with clear, slightly elastic epoxy. I enlarge the bottom of any holes in the cork so they are wider at the top than at the bottom and with a flat-blade dental tool slightly over-fill the holes with a thick mixture of cork powder thoroughly blended with epoxy - and sand flat after the mixture hardens. The result is a durable patch which can be sanded to the curve of the handle. I have some 20-year-old grips with these patches, which still closely match the feel and color of the rest of the cork grip.

I like the grips and have not had any problems with wear on my own personal rods. And I have put them on plenty of customer rods too. I have replaced 1 set of grips on a customer rod twice, for some reason he has wore out the orange and brown ones. On a positive note, I contacted the company about the wore out grips. We went back and forth with questions and answers and they sent me 4 sets of replacement grip N/C.

Good Luck

Steve

Micheal when you say the stubby CFX foregrip sleeve was slightly larger than what you want, did you mean OD, ID, or length ? I have found their OD to fit flush to the SK2 hood. Sometimes the ID might be a little large on some, but not all sleeves, in these cases I use a single wrap of dry wall tape to snug things up. If length, it may be possible to shorten the sleeve slightly, but may be a hassle to keep things square. If you want something shorter you might be able to take the short CFX fighting butt and core it out to fit the hood sleeve, which can be trim back. I‘ve used a cork borer which fits over the tenon to core the fighting butt. I can send you a picture of what I’m talking about if you are interested.
Norm

Norman looking for a shorter grip. That is why I have been waiting on the NFC. The NFC will be the smallest lightest option. All I want is a covering of the SK2 hood. Minimal increase in length and OD. I have not had a lot of luck in shortening carbon fiber grips in the past. Going to give the NFCs this week to ship. If not the CFX stubbys are the way I am going to go. Thanks for the other ideas.

I contacted Ashley at NFC yesterday. She said their grip shipment is due in almost any time now, and expects them sometime this week or next. They are as upset and frustrated with the delay as we are. Probably on the slow boat from China. I also have a batch of grips I ordered when they enlarged their grip selections back in January. I have been lusting after CF grips which fit IPS and VSS seats for a long time.
Norm

Yep I got the same answer. I have some IPS grips on order as well but no immediate plans for them. I did build with their soft touch IPS. Other than the lack of matching fore grip option I was impressed with the quality.

Yes I like the NFC soft touch IPS grip. The AT G2 fore grip sleeve in the K3 matte finish, is a very close match to the NFC K1 soft touch grip. I use the AT sleeve on the SK2 hidden thread hood which fits the IPS seat, a good looking and good feeling setup. I bought a dozen of them when they first came out, and have gone trough all of them.
Norm

I went with a EVA foregrip with the NFC soft touch, as I wanted more of foregrip than just a sleeve cover on the particular build. Another thing on the NFC soft touch you may or may not have found is the AT G2 winding checks fit perfectly. Was not a fan of the EVA checks NFC supplied. Also needed a bit of weight to balance the rod, so I gave the AT checks a try. Both the rear of the IPS and the fighting butt accepted the check no problems.

As my current situation did some more "research", staring at the parts I have while enjoying an adult beverage, the CFX stubbys are probably what I will use. A half inch of foam and carbon skin ain't going to make or break the build. So unless I get a shipping notice from NFC before Friday my mind is made up.