MickD

Go to the St Croix site and read their articles on materials. I have no idea what blanks the Johnny Morris rods are built on, but I expect they are good. St Croix Victory is SCIII, the material Avid has been utilizing for as long as I can remember. There may be updates/improvements with time, but it is a fine material, but not the top of the line. I have built a few rods on it, and it is a fine material for the money. SCVI - The site states it is too high a modulus to be used alone so it is utilized with other materials. A blend? Not sure, but it's top of the line and will bring top dollar. I have built a large number of SCV spin rods and they are terrific rods, always stay one of my favorites. Light for the power and very sensitive. I don't know what RTX5 means. Maybe by reading the stuff on the St Croix site you can figure it out. Anything St Croix does will be good stuff. Keep in mind that what you get on forums like this is OPINION. Most of us are not rod engineers, and most of us think we know more than we really know. So the best thing is for you to work to become knowledgeable with your own information.

The U40 and Flex Coat brush cleaners work great on epoxy and other stuff I've tried them on. Great products. As stated above, not alcohol.

Not sure about the wife, though. ?

I fixed a very nice, expensive, blank that I had crushed while trying to bend a guide, by doing this. My son has fished the rod for many years and the rod has not failed.

Good point , Tom, and another opportunity to convince her that she is not only affecting how the rig looks, but how it functions. Nicking the spool is at some time going to cost her fish, cut line, time not fishing but spent fixing.

If your wife is a frugal person regarding tackle costs, use that card to impress on her how she may be risking needlessly paying for more tackle. Show her the difference between her reel and yours, and explain that you'd really like to keep yours looking good as well as working well. Get a small tackle bag for her to carry her "stuff" and suggest she put the rod/reel on it, balanced so the blank doesn't contact the rocks and the rod/reel are on the soft bag. I think this idea has a lot of promise. Make it easy for her to do it right. Keep in mind that women have the ultimate control, so there may not be much you can do about it other than keep your rod in your hands and not in hers. Make sure you want to fight this war before you fight it. Might not be worth the cost. But if she is a rational person you should be able to work this out.

He said the reel looks terrible, not the wife.

Probably not enough turns, maybe slippery/waxy braid, but the Albright is sort of like half an Alberto knot. Try tying the Alberto knot in the very good video above. I also alter the Alberto, but a little different than he does. After setting the knot (He's right-it has to be set very tightly, as do most knots, and a common cause of failure is not setting them tightly enough. A properly set knot will plastically deform the leader) I tie two half hitches, pulled tightly off the end of it with the tag of the braid. They just don't come unravelled.

I think I see what you have, (a crack has compromised the hoop strength of the "external" ferrule, right?) and think a repair is worth trying. Get a small piece of fiberglass cloth and resin to apply to it. Get it sized so it will go around the ferrule with a little overlap. It can be applied to the ferrule to reinforce it. As long as the crack is tight enough to prevent the resin from getting inside the ferrule. If you are worried about this, then "fix" the crack before applying the fiberglass cloth. I think this can be done with something like Sally Hensen hard nail coating. I don't think it will penetrate the crack. If the fit is not perfect when you get done, there is a way to tune it.

Agree, doesn't look Fenwick. I'm still not sure I understand what you're dealing with.

It really doesn't sound like a spigot, which is an internal shaft inside the tube of the blank. This sounds more like a reinforced tip over butt ferrule. But whatever it is, the issue is what to do to get the rod fishable again.

Double uni is strong, reliable, easy to tie correctly, but is too big for many micro guides. The Alberto is easy, but not reliable unless finished with the triple hitch finish mentioned above, or with what I do, two tightly set half hitches. With this knot , as many others, it has to be very heavily "set," which deforms the FC and makes the knot resitant to slip and unravelling. Give it a heavy set , and finish with two or three tightly set half hitches.

Let a pro handle it and get it done right. Reels are too complex now for us amateurs to take them down far enough to really get them cleaned and then put back together correctly. I had the same thing happen a few years ago, got it serviced by a pro, and now I don't even remember which reel it was. Everything is fine.

You need a graphics program like Phtoshop or Paint Shop Pro and resize the file to a much smaller size and it will fit. If you reduce it enough. Some digital photos are HUGE. I've never seen a ferrule like that, but it sounds like it was a precursor to the integral ferrules we have today. I doubt it it can be removed, and it sounds to me like the only option is to make it into a one piece rod. Take a look at this article and see if you think there is a way to utilize the principals in it to either make it into a one piece rod, or possibly fabricate a replacement ferrule (long shot, I think). https://www.rodbuilding.org/library/repair-oquinn.html I have used this process to repair a number of rods successsfully, and they fish well. It will depend on how much you have to cut out whether the power and action will change too much. You might search for a vintage fly rod forum to get some advice, too.

I use the Batson Dream Reamer in a drill/driver (make sure it's turning the right way-do it reverse of that and the sandpaper tape can be damaged), leather gloves, and I allow the work to turn in my hand as I'm reaming. The rotation helps to maintain concentricity. Take your time, check it often.

Batson and Mudhole have reaming tools, which may not make sense if this is your only need for one, but they work very well. Maybe you can find some craftsman in your neighborhood who can ream the cork to the diameter you need. Some builders use taperd files for reaming. The challenge is in keeping the bore you end up with concentric. Not a piece of cake, but there are ways to get it done.

Size 16 seat and cork grip to your liking. The standard ones will fit the 16 seat. You will have to ream the cork to fit the blank, and since you are going to put the grip on from the rear, you have the taper of the blank to contend with. What you do is to construct a cylindrical surface of masking tape wrapped onto the blank so that the diameter of the series of tape wraps is constant and such that the grip can be slipped over the tape wraps. At the very end you will have no tape, just the diameter of the blank plus a little. Every two inches or so wrap tape to match the diameter of the butt of the blank. You are constructing a cylindler on which to mount the grip. Dry fit all parts, seat, grip, whatever, to make sure everything fits before you mix your epoxy. Using a good paste epoxy, mix it , and apply it liberally to all the tape wraps to totally encapsulate them. This will prevent them from deteriorating if water gets in. Slide the cork grip onto the blank, and into the seat. If any epoxy leaks out, clean it off with 90% alcohol, liberally used on a paper towel, before it sets. Once it sets, you cannot get it off. If this is not clear, please respond.

Metal ferrule? Photo? More detail, please.

The simple answer is that there are savings to be had if you choose the right stuff.

Agree with DVT. I build spin rods to a design you just cannot get commercially, work better for me, would work better for anyone. IMHO. The real advantage in rodbuilding is getting exactly what you want. To do this requires the builder to go beyond commercially offerred components and design and make his own.

Crestliner is one of the more respected boat lines. I would have no reservations. Their hulls are welded; Lund's are riveted. One company makes them both, each in its own plant. My son and two friends have 17.5 Crestliners and love them. I have a 16.5 Lund Rebel single console, and love it too. My boat fishes two nicely, three is a crowd. Theirs are wider and longer and handle 3 fishermen better. Much roomier than mine. I strongly recommend the spot lock + the remote control deploy and stow. I can't tell you how many times I've controlled the trolling motor from the back of the boat, speed, direction, trim, deploy, and stow. Sure beats going up front and wrestling with the motor manually. Especially as one ages. I think Lund is putting one on all boats now, good idea to have this. They are folded at the stern and really don't cost anything on functionality of the boat.

Yes, just recently on a fishing reel. A few years ago on a tennis racquet. Lots of ads on Facebook that are phony, look good, but are Chinese, and many will not deliver what is advertised. Either different stuff or nothing at all. Had the latter happen too. I'm too trusting at times.

Bait and switch is China's game. You may not get what you ordered.

Friction tape is too messy, gooey, sticky, leaves a black ugly residue, and it doesn't stretch which is necessary to really pull the reel tightly into the seat. In my opinion.

Electrical tape stretched tightly should work well in both keeping the reel tight and in being comfortable. Might get a little gummy after a while, but just do it over. File the "shoulders" that are left there off so the tape will hold the reel tightly to the base of the seat. Those remaining shoulders will keep the tape from holding the reel foot down if allowed to remain.