Hello. I am not much of a rod builder. I had a catastrophic break on my favorite custom handle lamiglas x-11 steelhead float rod. I had a snap a foot above the cork. I know the rod is a goner but I am going to make one last ditch attempt before tossing it. I plan on epoxying a graphite sleeve over the joint by using a recycled golf club handle Shaft. I was wondering if anyone has ever fixed this kind of break before with success and of you think this may work?

I never knew Lamiglas sold the X-11 blanks, where did you get one to put that custom grip on? If you are talking about the michigan/skagit gripped Great Lakes float rods, they are available in both the 10 1/2 and 11 1/2 ft. lengths. Without seeing the break, it would be hard to speculate, but you can sure try, what have you got to lose? I would think glass would be a better material though.

A break that close to the grip will have a lot of stress! In addition to the outside sleeve you should include an internal piece.

Hey spencer. Lamiglas does not offer x 11 blanks. The rod I broke was a modified x11 great lakes michigan handle float rod which was converted to have sliding rings. The model I have is actually a 12 foot model which they no longer sell. @#$%&, I even have a spare tip for the rod I broke. Never thought I'd break the bottom half. I have no idea of it will even work so I am trying to put as little in it as possible. I looked for an unthreaded aluminum spacer but it was about 22 bucks with shipping.

I am new to this forum and am unfamiliar with this platform I do have images of the break and potential sleeve of there is a way to post pictures of on here I gladly will go go e you guys a better idea of what I'm working with

Randy,
Allow me to expand on the very good advice from Spencer and Phil. Definitely yes to using FG rather than higher modules CF for the repair pieces as Spencer suggested. As Phil mentioned, both an internal “spigot” (preferably tubular) and external “sleeve” would be the best as long as they were not overly stiff (combined, stiffer than the original blank; a slight tick stiffer is OK). Keep the combined wall thickness of the spigot and sleeve similar to the wall thickness of the blank. Make the sleeve approximately .5 longer than the spigot to spread-out the stress while under load. If the repair area is too stiff, you will greatly enhance the possibility of the blank breaking again, right at the edge of the repair!
If you have difficulty locating proper wall doner blank pieces for the spigot and sleeve repair, there is another solution which will even allow control over the thickness and possibly produce the best overall repair. It involves a wood dowel for the spigot, woven FG sleeving and structural epoxy for the sleeve.
The dowel does not need to be fancy hardwood; whatever Home Depot has is adequate. Cut the dowel to ~ 2in long and sand the OD so that it fits nicely (not tight) into both blank sections. Epoxy the dowel into both sections and align the blank so that it is straight while curing. Allow to cure. Cut the FG sleeving into progressively longer pieces; 1.5in, 2.5in, 3.5in… The number of pieces (plies) depends on how heavy the blank is, but generally <10lb rating = 2 plies, 15lb = 3 plies, 20lb = 4 plies… Structural laminating epoxy is the best but polyester (AKA fiberglass) FINISH resin is suitable but you will need to work quickly. Position the first, 1in ply of sleeving centered over the break and COMPLETELY wet-out with epoxy. While the first ply is still wet, center the 2in sleeve over the first (compressing the sleeve from end to end will enlarge the diameter to ease positioning over the first). Using your fingers (with gloves on of course) as a “chuck”, lightly pull both ends away from each other to constrict it down onto the first ply. Add epoxy to any dry spots. Repeat with as many plies required.
The progressive lengths of sleeving serve 3 purposes; 1 - The “sleeve” will be thicker / stronger at the center where needed the most, 2 - The sleeve will be progressively more flexible toward the ends, minimizing stress points to the blank, 3 - the longer outer ply will conceal the frayed ends of the inner plies leaving a cleaner surface; only the ends of the final ply need to be sanded.
The “bias” fiber orientation of the FG sleeving (+45* / -45*) is ideally suited for this application. Unidirectional fabrics would be too stiff in one direction but virtually none in the other direction. The bias orientation affords adequate hoop strength without adding too much longitudinal strength = it remains more flexible yet quite strong.
Any rod builder able to apply finish to a thread wrap can perform this; it is really quite similar.
If interested, Soller Composites has all you will need.

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

Remember this, the reason in the past glass was called for use as the outer sleeve is because a larger diameter will be stiffer by nature so glass reduces that. What you don't want happen is say the blank has a certain flexibility then you come to the edge of your sleeve and it is much stiffer, which makes what they call a STEP FUNCTION at that point and thus a SHEAR point where your rod would most likely fail.

Hello Randy.

Here is an article on repair.

[www.rodbuilding.org]


Tight Wraps & Tighter Lines.

Bob,

New Bern, NC.

Randy,
A slight variation on the advice of others.
When I have had clients had this happen, I use the following process.

I remove the butt cap.
Then, I take a scrap rod blank that I have stripped clear of any hardware.
When I select the rod blank, I try to select one that will have some section of the rod fit nicely on the inside of the current rod being repaired coming into the broken rod from the butt section of the rod.

I will push the rod up the butt of the rod, until it is a perfect fit, all of the way from the butt to the point that it exits the rod at the break.
Then, I will cut off that rod about 6-8 inches above the break. Since it just fits nicely in the existing blank, the broken piece should also fit nice and tight on the inside of the broken part of the rod.
When you have this done, I will push the mending inside piece back out side the butt of the rod - having first marked on the repair piece where the break has happened.
Then, I will trim the butt end of the repair section so that the butt end of the repair section will end up being just below the reel seat. This length will really insure that the break does not reoccur.
Then, I will essentially create an outer sleeve, preferably made from a fiberglass blank that will fit nice and tight over the part of the broken rod emerging from the front grip and have it trimmed so that when this outer sleeve piece is pushed in place, the end of the sleeve will be resting against the fore grip of the rod. Then, cut the outer sleeve that it will effectively give you about 4 inches past the break.

Take very slow drying epoxy like 60 minute cure time to mix up a nice batch and glue the inner sleeve, the ends of the broken pieces and the outer sleeve all in one glued up match. Of course wipe off any excess epoxy before it sets up.

Then, do about a 3/8th inch wrap at each end of the outer sleeve to avoid the chance of haviing the outer sleeve ever split due to extreme bending pressure.

Finally, of course, coat the thread wraps with thread finish in the same way as you would wrap any rod being built.