MickD

I have torn a shirt on mine, no broken rods. But I often loan my custom built rods to friends, and friends and kids have no way of knowing that those cleats can break a rod so easily, so I wanted a reliable solution. I knew sooner or later there was going to be a broken rod unless I did something about it.

I did my best. Just got the boat this year. :-) Your comment makes me feel good in that there is the possibility that this post can save others' rods. Looks like I was right in concluding that open cleats are in fact a rod trap.

Try Tom's suggestion. I believe that the crayfish in the chimneys on shore are terrestrial crayfish, and bass have probably never seen them. Neither have I, but I've tried. The lake crayfish are often easily seen at boat launches at night. Ask local fishermen what colors they find most effective on that lake, and use a crayfish trailer in that color.

If your boat has open cleats, then there is a significant probability, especially if fishing with kids and others not tuned in to the potential, that you will have a rod broken by its getting under the open cleat end and simply picked up. Note the pictures. I have such a boat, and could not find retractable cleats that would work on my boat, so I searched for another solution. If you have some of the flexible polyurethane foam, about 1 inch thick, that comes as packing with electronics (I never throw it away-has so many uses), you have a solution. It is light, clean, doesn't flake or quickly degrade, and snaps on and off in a wink. Cut a piece of the foam out that can enclose the cleat and be about two inches longer than the cleat. Then cut out the center to allow it to be placed over the cleat. Leave them off until on the water, storing them in a handy place, then before fishing, cover the cleats. Piece of cake. Note the photos, (note the image, not the title, I screwed up on titles) and if you have questions, please ask. This simple, free, solution can save you a broken rod.l

You've got to get the right impeller kit, and you have to orient the pump impeller blades in the right direction when putting the impeller into the pump housing. It can be done at home, but this is a little further than I want to go on a big engine. If your impeller has not been changed since 2003, it is WAY overdue. Either do it or have it done. There are a couple common ways the water system can be clogged. One is that mud can be pumped into the system by shallow running. The other is that mud dobber wasps can plant their larvae in the "pee hole," clogging it up. But as I said, if it has not been changed since 2003, just get it done or do it yourself.

If you trim either the butt or the tip of a rod it will change both the power and action as described by CCS. Maybe not as felt by the hand. If you have an existing rod and do not move the seat, trimming the tip will affect the power and action, trimming the butt will affect neither. Trimming the tip is like breaking a rod near the tip and putting on a new tiptop. I've done that, and never have liked the rod after that. I have not yet found a good enough reason to trim either end; there are so many blanks available that I have found what I wanted. The closest I've come is considering trimming the butt of a long "hot shot" rod. With this new Point Blank, that will most likely not happen either. Good discussion. By the way, this Point Blank to be built will be done with Winn grips and the Fuji Perfect Fit hardware, my first for the latter.

You gotta get your CCS rig done. Then you can test the blank as is, then move the butt back so that you're only testing the front 7 ' 3" , or whatever length less than the original blank without cutting it. Then you can decide on whether to cut, and if you do, how much, based on objective numbers. It's fun, and very informative.

It can be done, but is pretty labor intensive. You can use braid line to saw off the EVA by making a number of cuts, then clean up the blank. Now use wraps of masking tape (about one every two iches, use judgment to provide a solid base) to provide a few support points for the new cork, varying the wrap to form a "cylinder" of wraps onto which you slide the reamed cork grip. When gluing, make sure you totally encapsulate all the masking tape to protect it from water degradation. Slide on the new cork grip.

I adjust it by feel with different settings for different techniques. This is not rocket science. How do you know you are ripping mouths?

Man, if Mercs require rebuild after only 800 hours, I'm really going to miss my Suzuki. Seems strange since Merc doesn't even recommend plug changes until 300. So less than 3 plug changes the engine might need rebuild?

I would never use only one brand. I would always be wondering what the other brands were like.

I have never heard of a procedure for draining water from an outboard other than putting the engine into a vertical position. Using that procedure on a Suzuki 50 for 18 years never resulting in any problem whatsoever. I'm sure someone will "correct me," but my point is that if there is no water in the engine, there is no problem with cold temperatures. And I'm sure all manufacturers design to the same criterion, i.e. no water when vertical.

It is probably much longer than 7 feet, right? They are used, as I understand it, to fish hot n tots and similar lures behind river boats for steelhead. The tip is very light compared with the power of the rod allowing the lures to dance freely and their action is easily seen on the blanks. The light tip explains why the tip goes vertical before being loaded enough to get to 30% deflection (RDA/CCS tests). Because of their powerful mid/butt they can handle powerful fish. I am building mine into a casting rod (with components from Anglers Resource under their latest promotion) to use at first for blade baits (smallies in the spring and fall), then will see where it goes from there. I think it will also make a great drop shot rod. It is obviously going to be the fastest action I've ever seen.

By the way, the other two Point Blanks I have made were PB 6' 9" medium power, XF action, built into casting rods for my son. He loves them, and casts a very wide range of lure weights with them. Here are the PB data: PB691MXF Length: 6 ft 9 inches Action Angle: XF •67-degrees (RDA) • 76-degrees (CCS) Power: Med / 440gr (RDA) • ERN 20.7 (CCS) Weight: 1.76oz. Butt Dia: 14.06 mm Tip Size: 1.81mm (5.0) Lure Wt: 1/8 to 5/8oz Sugg Line Wt: 8-14 mono 10-15lb braid Notice that the 76 degree AA is 6 degrees lower than the 7' 3" discussed above. These rods did not go vertical when deflected to 33%, so have a more "traditional" action. My son uses them for all kinds of lures, from light blades to pretty heavy spinnerbaits and cranks. He uses FC line. ONe thing I forgot to mention, the finish on the Point Blanks can be "smoothed out" by the rubber wheels on wrapping machines. The finish is described as "cat's tongue," and feels a lot like that. Keep the force on the wheels to a minimum, or tape the blanks where the wheels will contact, especially when drying epoxy (long exposure time to the wheels.) If it gets "smoothed" you can blend the appearance back to normal with a grey Scotchbrite pad, but better not to have to try that.

Length: 7 ftAction Angle: F • 65-degrees (RDA) • 78-degrees (CCS)Power: Med / 460gr (RDA) • ERN 23.1 (CCS)Weight: 1.94oz.Butt Dia: 14.31 mmTip Size: 1.73mm (5.0)Lure Wt: 1/8 to 1/2ozSugg Line Wt: 8-14 mono10-15lb braid Data from the PointBlank.com site, only shows on the individual listings for the blanks. Nice work Angry John for finding this. If you have the conversion chart for ERN (Effective Rod Number) to CCS grams you can have the CCS power number. The RDA numbers are grams to deflect the blank to 30% from horizontal instead of the CCS 33%. Same process, different deflection. since the deflection is less, the Action Angle will be less. Based on my experience with Point Blanks the AA will be about 78 when deflected to 33%. (Just noticed, the data above say 78 for CCS) About the same as a St Croix Legend 70MF. I thought I had a good conversion for RDA to CCS power numbers, but not so sure now. I think this blank may be a little under the power of a St Croix 70MF or just about the same. I just noticed something on the catalog RDA data for the PB731MXF, 7 foot 3, medium power, extra fast action. It is their only blank that they rate differently on their power data from their normal RDA process. They give the grams to deflect the blank to tip angle 90 degrees, or vertical. What this means is that the blank is so fast, with such a soft tip compared to the rest of the blank, that the tip goes vertical before the deflection reaches 30%. It was the ONLY blank on their catalog listing that was evaluated that way. This is not mentioned in the on-line data. They call the AA 67 RDA and 82 CCS. This is the blank I tested today and I was amazed how differently it reacted relative to any other blank I have ever tested. I got an action angle of basically 90 degrees since I deflected it to 33%. A St Croix Legend 70MF has an AA of about 78 degrees. I was surprised at the CCS power number I got, way above what I expected for a "medium power" blank (775 grams). What this all means to fishing is that this blank will cast light lures because of its light tip and long length, but it loads very quickly with added force so that it will also cast quite heavy lures well. It will handle very powerful fish well because its mid-section and butt are so powerful. Very interesting indeed. This is an entirely new animal to me. This is a VERY powerful rod with light tip. I believe one might call it a 7 ' 3" "hotshot rod." S Hovanec, if you want to try a Point Blank, try this one. I'll bet it will be different from any other rod you have.

Can you post the exact site address for this? I just went to PointBlank.com and there are no power numbers there. You may have found the old site that had the numbers, since replaced by a new site without.

What is the model number?

I am interested in your response to the Quickline when you get it built. I've done fly blanks, like them, but no other Quicklines. You are right about the Anglers Resource power/action numbers. I'll have to look at my old catalog but I don't think they gave an action angle, right? But they did their power measurement at 30 % instead of 33 % of blank length. Their XF actions are in the range of 78 degrees AA, if I remember right. I came up with a conversion to get their power number to correlate with CCS. One catalog had actual CCS numbers, then they took them out. If you need their numbers, or a conversion for their numbers to CCS, e-mail me and I'll hunt them up. I suggest you do build one. You are a respected builder, and I, for one, would like to hear your evaluation of one. AND, no one can have too many rods.

I have built two into casting rods for my son, and have one in now that I have not yet started. In my opinion, their power is stated correctly, and they are very sensitive blanks that build into very light rods for the power rating. If you can find a past Anglers Resource catalog, they had objective power ratings listed. I believe that builders gave them so much crap about not agreeing with their ratings that they stopped listing the objective numbers. Their numbers and mine agree quite closely. Builders whine about not being able to get objective numbers, and when a blank maker provides them, the builders give the maker so much crap that the builder withdraws them. In my opinion, Point Blanks are in the same class as other top of the line blank/rod makers, like Rainshadow Eternity.

If you shop Ebay and buy only from sellers who have high volume, reasonable return policies, and over 99% approval rating you will not get scammed with bad used products. Read the descriptions carefully.

Keep in mind this chart is only bass boats. Would be interesting to see total "fishing" boat sales, with all the Lunds, Crestliners, Monarks, BPS, and others.

When you don't use color preservative on regular nylon wrapping thread it becomes more transparent, not more opaque. Especially light colored threads. Even with color preservative on regular nylon, the guide feet will often show through a little.

Of course. And as long as you keep your music to yourself, no problem. If you "share" with those who don't enjoy your music, then it's a problem. This doesn't seem to be all that complicated. None of us owns the lake. It's simply about courtesy.

I've noticed little cracks on the other side at the base of the frame, but haven't noticed them going around the frame. Mine have never caused a problem, and structurally, they won't fail. However, if you notice the wraps getting "foggy" looking, or cloudy after fishing in the rain, that would indicate water getting in. If that happens put a small drop of epoxy on the crack to seal it. I would do nothing unless you see the cloudy wrap.

I have heard of your complaint before, and in spite of my son and I having probably over 2 dozen spinning rods that I have made for us, we have not encountered the problem. I tighten the nuts very tightly, and that's it. Not sure why you are having the problem. I would not use any glue or locking liquid on the nut threads. There is so much area there that you may not be able to loosen them, and some rods have plastic nuts, so they are not as strong as metal reinforced ones. In the custom building "racket," we can get the Fuji locking nut for all (I think all) of their seats, (also work on some other brands of seats) so if you do in fact change some seats, I suggest you get that inexpensive but effective nut installed, too. If I were encountering the problem I would do a wrap around the reel foot with a few inches of Winn's grip wrap. Looks good, is tacky and soft feeling, and I believe it would work. Tighten the nut very tightly, then apply the wrap. You could do a number of rods with one $10 roll of grip wrap, and if it worked, would be MUCH less expensive than changing seats/grips. If you cannot find it near you and don't want to order on-line, go to a tennis shop and buy a grip wrap there. Similar, probably not quite as good, but might work.