Fenwick rod question

[walleyemaniac]

I have a Fenwick Goldenwing IM7 7' med. action spinning rod that the reel seat came loose. The fore end cork and the rear cork at the very end of the rod are still tight, but everything between has came loose from the blank. How hard would this be to fix on my own as I have never messed with this sort of thing before? I did some looking on Mud Hole last night and think I found the right cork replcement handles for the reel seat that is on there. The only thing is I don't know which fuji reel seat it is. (VSS-16 or VSS-17) How do I tell the differance? Looks like they have the 9.5" rear cork handle to replace the one that is on there, as it will probably get wrecked trying to get it apart. What would be the right way to take this all apart? Maybe I sould just leave this up to someone that knows what they're doing, I'm hoping this isn't that hard to replace handles and position the real seat again?

Went on Fenwicks site last night and it doesn't look like a warranty claim to me, unless someone knows otherwise.

Not a really high end rod, but it's one that I really like fishing with. Would really like to get it fixed. Also, if it's not worth the hassle let me know, I'll start looking for a replacement. Any help on this would greatly be appreciated!!

[CAMAN]

It's a little more than just pulling off a grip and replacing the reel seat. On most rods you need to remove all(most) of the guides to get a reel seat on/off the rod. Essentially you'd have to rebuild the entire rod.

An easy fix that works most of the time if you have a NON-exposed blank type reel seat is to CAREFULLY drill a small hole into the seat just deep enough to go through the seat, but not deep enough to hit the blank. Keep an alcohol soaked rag handy to clean up any epoxy that may run out. Fill a medium/large needled syringe with warm 12 hour epoxy thinned down with a couple drops of acetone and inject it into the void. Rotate the reel seat while injecting the epoxy to get full coverage around the blank. If you can, keep injecting epoxy until it just starts to squeeze out one or both of the ends of the reel seat. Adjust the seat to its finished position and let sit for a day or two while standing vertical. When cured, scrape/cut off any epoxy that may have squeezed out.

[walleyemaniac]

Might be able to handle that, thanks. Wasn't thinking earlier that everything does have to come off the small end of the blank. Daaa!!!

[upnorth]

+1

[Hardyboy]

+1

[Willow Sticks]

I've had success drilling a hole or two in the reel seat underneath the reel mounting and using a syringe to inject two part epoxy to fill between blank and reel seat. Save cutting cork and guides off and the reel hides holes.

[walleyemaniac]

Say guys I was looking on Mud Holes site and I couldn't find anything like 12hr apoxy. Is there a certain brand I should look for or will any type of apoxy glue work so long as it sets up slow. I guess what I'm asking is does it need to be rod building specific or will any hardware store apoxy work?

Got my hole drilled without touching the blank, just spun the bit with my fingers till it went thru. Found a syringe I think will work. Where do I find acetone and how thin do I want the apoxy? Just enough so it goes thru the needle a little easier? Should I be worried about getting it to thin? I don't want to screw it up beyond repair ya know what I mean.

[CAMAN]

Yeah any two-part hardware store long-set epoxy will work. Acetone can be found in the paint dept. of any hardware store, or just ask a neighbor if they have any, all you need is a drop or two to thin it down a bit. But you really don't need it if you don't have it, setting the syringe with epoxy under a lamp or heat source to soften it up will be enough to make it flow a bit easier.

[walleyemaniac]

Thanks guys got it glued last night. Didn't seem like it took every much, was a little worried it might not hold. Rock solid this afternoon when I checked it. Back in business!! Thanks again.

[upnorth]

Glad to hear it worked!!