On a saltwater boat rod, I want to transition the wrap, tapering from the blank onto the end of the EVA foregrip. What is the technique for this. Thanks.

John Gaylord
Keewaydin Custom Rods
Dublin, OH; Naples, FL
jgbuckeye@gmail.com

You need to taper the fore area of the grip. It will be easier to wrap onto the grip if you harden it. A light coat of epoxy will do that. Once cured, your thread will easily wrap up and onto it. Finish the thread as usual.

One tip - when you apply epoxy to the thread you will want to overlap the EVA just a tad. The EVA will tend to draw the finish onto itself somewhat unevenly, so keep a paper towel wetted with alcohol or acetone handy and every few minutes carefully use a folded corner to square up the epoxy on the grip. After a certain time period, the epoxy will thicken enough that it won't "creep" any further and you'll be good to go.

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The end of the EVA would have to be a quite shallow taper to the blank. I have not done this, but if I were to do it I would put a coat of regular or Rileys epoxy onto the EVA before wrapping to provide some structure for the wrap. Maybe two coats. Then wrap and finish as usual. If you expect that area of the rod to get hard use, like pressed against the boat rail, or hard hand contact, I would be skeptical that it would hold up. I screwed up an epoxy covered rigid foam ramp, left a void in the rigid foam under the epoxy coating, and it caved in. I would think that compliant EVA under rigid epoxy would tend to do the same thing, right at the edge.

John,
As others have suggested; likely the best way to do this is NOT to do it.
Figure out another way to go from the rod to the grip. EVA is just not the best surface to wrap on, even if it is coated with Epoxy. It will very likely lead to long term issues with the rod and the transition.

Good luck if you do try it.

What about making a cone for the front of the grip out of say reel seat arbor Shape ( a little smaller ) glue on then run the thread up the arbor ( light tension ) then finish trying not to hit the grip Should also be a little easer to clean with the paper towel

Bill - willierods.com

Thanks, Guys.

John Gaylord
Keewaydin Custom Rods
Dublin, OH; Naples, FL
jgbuckeye@gmail.com

I'm not sure what you are exactly trying to accomplish, but if you want a smooth transition from the blank to the EVA, then cut the EVA CLEANLY at 90 degrees to its axis at a diameter just larger than the diameter of the blank. Then after gluing the EVA to the blank, construct an epoxy ramp going from the blank to the EVA piece. (Use masking tape to protect the EVA from any epoxy from the ramp.) If you cut the EVA so it's not that much larger than the blank, the epoxy ramp can be pretty small. But you will have a nice smooth transition from the blank to the EVA that should be durable. You will be butting an epoxy ramp up against an EVA foregrip. This will look much nicer than a winding check.

Excellent idea.

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Hello John.

I do the same as Michael Danek most times but sometimes I put a black vinyl tall winding check (VWC- size) on then epoxy over that.

Tight Wraps & Bent Rods.

Bob,

New Bern, NC.