I'm going to be using Aftco seats on some surf poles. I can't find any graphite arbors big enough. The outer diameter of the arbor is to small to be reamed to fit over the blank and even if possible they would not match up to the seats themselves. I looked through Dale Clemans , and Tom Kirkmans' books and could not find anything about mounting these larger seats. Should I use cork tape, masking tape or something else. I don't think the tape will hold with the amount of pressure that will be placed on these seats during long fights with saltwater fish. Ideas please! Thanks Jim

A rod builder I talked to when I first started uses masking tape. He builds many surf rods for shark fishing the texas coast. I've seen these guys use 16/0 reels on these things. He marks off where the seat will be and fills this space with masking tape leaving 1/8 to 3/16 gaps inbetween 1/2 inch tape. He filled the gaps completely with slow cure epoxy and turned the seat on to spread the epoxy. I've always let it cure with the rod standing up so the epoxy settles down and makes a solid bond from the blank to the seat. Good luck

The tape doesn't come lose after time? That is the only thing I am worried about.

Many people swear by tape. Others hate it and have had problems with it. I know that Pac Bay makes the graphite type arbors up to size 32 mm and that fits most seats on the market.

Another and much better thing than masking tape is the fiberglass drywall tape you can get at most hardward stores. It has open grid structure so the epoxy can penetrate and lock it all in place. It can be wound around the blank just like masking tape but will not dry out of shift over time. That is how I would go if you cannot get the larger arbors.

Fiberglass drywall tape, never thought of that. Thanks.

Forgot, will the epoxy bond well to the aluminum seat or does any special precautions need to be done?

I know the drywall tape is covered in Tom's book and remember seeing a photo of it along with some other methods like string, thread and cork bushings. But get the type that sticks to itself and even then you may have to bind down the last edge with a small piece of tape to hold it while you glue things up.

As far as I know all you have to do to glue the seat is clean it and scour it with scotchbrite. I'd put them on like that and they seem to stick like heck!

I use masking tape, but I think that the drywall tape will be a new experiment for me. One could also use some five minute epoxy to lock the end of the tape down before wrapping it on top of itself. Not sure that it is necessary, but it can't hurt.

You can use masking tape, fiberglass cloth, etc. I would leave about 1/8" in front and in back of the seat with at least 3/4" gap in the tape sections. When you slide the seat down, the epoxy will fill the gap at the back of the seat/grip and when you slide the foregrip on the epoxy will fill the gap at front of the seat/grip.The gaps should be 'completely' filled with whatever epoxy you are using.

Also, I rough up the inside of all seats, especially the aluminum seats. Take a round file and score it well, then clean thoroughly with alcohol. You could use a dremel tool or most anything that you have available to roughen it up.

After you install the seat and grips, stand the rod up before the epoxy hardens so that it will level evenly.

You'll like the drywall tape as it has an open grid which lets the epoxy seep through and through and lock everything in place. Can't even come loose even if you expose the rod to rough weather or water.

I use that drywall tape i split it in half, and use it that way about 3/4" wide. I tape it to the blank with a small piece of tape and apply the epoxy i tie it off with some thread, a couple wraps

I like chalk line saturated with slow cure epoxy. You can get a good fit almost the whole length of the seat.

Wrap it up dry and get it to fit pretty close. If you need to you can seperate the strands of the line and use that for fine tuning the fit. After a dry run take it off and wrap it on while saturating it with epoxy. It expands a bit and you will get a tight fit when you slide the seat on.

That must add a lot of weight being that it is saturated with epoxy. Is is vastly heavier? I wonder if it would work as well on smaller, lighter rods as I think it would on a larger heavier rod where weight isn't as much of an issue.

I've tried it. Masking tape with gaps filled with epoxy is the heaviest of the lot. The dry wall tape is not heavy and most of the space is filled with tape. The grip pattern allows epoxy to work its way down into it to lock everything in place but it does not take as epoxy to do that as it would to fill an open gap. It will work fine for any type reel seat mounting.