Fishing pole repair

Question
Hello - I bought a spinning rod/reel combo Quantum Array (IM8) 5 1/2' lg only an month or two ago - accidently got broken by shutting a van tailgate on it, about exactly in half. It is a pretty clean break - what is the best way to repair this? Thanks in advance for your help!

Answer
Hi Mike,

Your best option requires some fairly sophisticated rod building techniques.  If you are comfortable that you have the skills needed, here's the technique:

Insert and Sleeve

This procedure requires access to the butt end of the blank and that you remove any guides above the break.  You may need to remove some of the cork handle or the butt cap to gain access to the butt.  You need two pieces of an old fiberglass rod blank that match the taper of your blank on the inside of the break and on the outside of the break.  Each piece should be 3-4 inches long.  Since your rod is now effectively a two piece blank I will call the two pieces you have the butt section and the tip section.

You clean the edges of the break to trim splinters.  Then insert the piece of fiberglass rod blank that matches the inside taper of your rod from the butt end to the break.  You will want to have equal support on both sides of the break.  In other words, if you have a 4 inch piece of fiberglass blank, you will want it to be snug the last 2 inches of the butt section and then stick out 2 inches from the butt section.  Dry fit this piece and then mix epoxy to glue it in place.  You will need something to push it from the butt end of the blank to the point of the break.

With the internal support glued in place in the butt section and sticking out 2 inches, apply epoxy to the exposed part of the support and fit the tip section over it matching the edges of the break as closely as possible.  This will result in you having a one piece rod again with an internal support on both sides of the break.

The sleeve is sized to slide down from the tip of the rod to fit snugly over the break and cover the break extending on both sides the same length as the internal support.  It is best to taper the ends of the sleeve to about 30 degrees to permit easy wrapping of thread over the sleeve.  Once you have the sleeve sized and dry fit properly, apply epoxy to the rod blank at the spot where the sleeve will come to rest and slide the sleeve into place.  Now you have an internal and an external support in place that will restore your rod to usable condition.

I always overwrap the sleeve with a thread color that matches the rod blank and then cover the whole thing with thread finish.  This adds a bit to the repair but does makes it look better.  The end result looks like a short area of bulge in the rod but makes an effective repair.  You also have to replace all the guides you removed and any butt cap or cork you had to remove to get to the butt end of the rod blank.

Or, you could take the rod to a good rod builder for repair.  Check with an organization like Rod Builders International (www.rodbuildersinternational.com) for a possible referral to a builder in your area.

Also, you could construct a ferrule on the tip section to accept the butt section and keep the rod in two pieces.  This is a somewhat more difficult approach but does involve some of the same techniques.

Thanks,  Joe