I have an 8.5" winn grip for a bass casting rod shown in this pic
[www.rodbuilding.org]

When I bought it I assumed the butt cap would come off so I could ream the handle and glue the cap on. But that's not the case. If I just ream the whole thing to fit the .510" butt diameter then I'll be left with a big hole to cover. I looked at some plastic caps, but they seem to be larger diameter than the .720" flat spot on the end of the butt so that wouldn't look good. I have flexcoat pilot bits but they're too short, besides the current bore is large than 1/4" so the bit wouldn't run straight.
Maybe I should look for a long 17/32" or 9/16" drill bit and hope that would drill fairly centered.

Has anyone else installed one like this and have a good solution to my conundrum?

John Shear
Chippewa Falls, WI

Looks like you bought one of the discontinued grips. You are right they can be tough to fit to the blank, one of the reasons they were discontinued. There are three options for getting them to fit:
1. If you have a set of long drill bits you can start off by using a bit that snugly fits the hole and slowly drill down to near the bottom of the grip.. Mark the depth you want on the bit with a piece of tape. Change bit size and repeat until you get it to fit. The grip will need to be installed from the bottom of the blank. This does a fairly good job and there is no problem with centering.
2. You can cut the butt cap off, ream the grip to fit and glue the butt cap back using contact cement. The cap being short can be reamed/drilled to fit . The cap can be glued back before or after gluing the grip to the blank.
3. Looks like you have already made a hole in the butt. If so just ream the grip to fit the blank. When finished punch out a piece of Eva foam that is slightly larger than the hole, contact cement it in place, and sand smooth. Punches can be made from brass tubing which come in a variety of diameters, and can be found in some hardware stores to hobby shops. The hole can also be covered with a nylon push fastener. These are sold at many hardware stores and come in various sizes to fit inside the blank.
Hope this helps,
Norm

Hello,
I agree with Norman, ream to fit as usual.Install a Rubber butt cap. The simple type meant to fit in the blank.

One thing is that Winn grips are somewhat flexible, so reaming one to the diametre of the upper part might be enough and the lower part would have a tight, rather than just snug fit, but it would nevertheless expand a bit.
Also you could simply cut the integrated butt cap short to have enough flat surface to accomodate a rubber butt plug. Have done it myself so I know it works. If @#$%& happens and you feel the rear grip is somehat loose, though glued to the blank, you can always use a syringe and needle and inject glue through the grip. Have done this too and again - it worked.

ive reamed a couple of the winn grip fighting butts ( 2.5" ) simply using a steel drill bit and carefully reaming the center to allow it to slip tightly over the blank, stepping up in size slowly as to not overdo it. with a slightly undersized bit you are able to ream the rear of the grip without enlarging the front too much, foam is very forgiving. just be careful with a spinning drill bit instead of a rasp/ file.

Yes Norman, I saw these at half-price and thought I'd get a couple to try. These grips would be so great if the butt cap were a separate piece.
Btw, they came with the hole in the butt already there. I'm first looking for long drill bits to increase the bore slightly. I also ordered some various size plastic plugs from AnglersWorkshop to see if they'd fit if I just reamed the whole thing and had a big hole in the butt.
Thanks for the feedback all.

John Shear
Chippewa Falls, WI

John, I bought some of these also, a very good buy at 50% off making the extra work worth it. Do not know it you have extra EVA floating around but if you do the easiest fix is to punch out a black EVA plug slightly larger than the hole. Use contact cement for gluing in place. Contact cement is not only very strong but also gives you a very flexible glue joint so you cannot feel the joint. Once sanded can not tell you glued any thing. You can punch the plug from and old handle or an EVA inlay sheet. The inlay sheets are up to 6 mm thick. If you need something thicker contact cement a couple of pieces together. I have several set of cork borers that I use for punching out plugs (EVA and cork). I have had them for years and they work very well for this and other things.
[www.amazon.com]
Of course you can cut out an EVA plug out with a pair of scissors.
Another option are black plastic nylon push hole plugs which are sold in various sizes that can be used to fill the hole. These can be found locally in many hardware stores. in fact a number of commercially made rods use them as butt plugs. They are very thin and do a good job.
Finally you can use an EVA butt cap or rubber butt plug.
Norm

John, this is the type of plug I'm talking about. Found in hard ware and auto parts stores.
[www.dormanproducts.com]
They come in different sizes and can be glued inside the butt of the blank. The end of the grip would be flush to the end of the blank..
Here is another type.

[www.widgetco.com]
Norm



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/06/2016 05:30PM by Norman Miller.