I have a couple of rods with EVA handle grips where some critter (mice?) decided to eat small chunks out of it. I'm thinking of filling the holes with something and then using grip wrap or shrink wrap to cover the whole grip. What do I use to fill the EVA? I've though of wood filler but don't know if it will stick to the EVA foam.

On another rod the EVA is weathered/dry rotted and am wondering if I need to coat the grip with some sort of sealer/varnish before wrapping so the wrap will stick.

Thanks

you can replace the whole grip , or trim the holes up to be smooth an use contact glue an fill with chunks of EVA, then smooth up then put the shrink wrap over the grip ,
it is a stop gap to pro long the rod , most if not all the jobbers on the left carry the heavy duty shrink wrap just made for what you want to do to your rod ,

William Sidney
AK

Eddie,
EVA grips are so inexpensive, just cut off the old grip, ream the new grip to a size so that you can easily slip it back on the rod, starting from the butt of the rod. If you have a taper in the rod blank, just use masking tape to arbor up the size of the rod blank to be the same size from the butt to the reel seat. Coat the inside of the reamed out EVA and the blank, and slip it on. Clean up the excess glue and you are done.

Really doesn't make a lot of sense to spend time and effort to patch holes since the entire grip can be replaced so easily.

If you have a fore grip issue, cut off the old grip, clean up the blank and then using a caliper, measure the diameter of the blank in the area of the fore grip. Then, ream the inside of the new EVA fore grip to the size of the blank. And again, if necessary use masking tape to make the blank a constant diameter. Then, use a razor to slit one side of the eva. Have clear sealing tape on hand. Then, coat the blank and the inside of the EVA fore grip - including the cut edges of the grip. Slip the EVA grip over the blank using the slit to expand the grip. When in place, clean up the excess epoxy with DNA and then use the clear sealing tape to squeeze the EVA grip tight to the blank. Since the tape is clear, you can see through the tape as you tighten it up to be sure that you get the cut in the EVA tight. Let it sit for enough time to get the EPOXY to begin to gel. It is likely that there will be a bit of excess epoxy on the outside of the eva. Carefully and quickly remove the clear tape, and again, clean up any epoxy on the surface and then retape the EVA again for a final long term drying. You want to do this final glue clean up with the epoxy just setting up and before it gets rock hard, or you will not be able to do a decent job of cleaning up the EVA.

Good luck

buy new grips then cut off the old ones and clean up the parts of the blank where the grip fits then ream them to fit the blank doing as suggested to make the hole one size with no taper to the blank and fill the gap with some tape isn't a good idea IMHO
after you have the grips reamed to the blank taper slit them with a razor blade and then either use model glue or super glue as that is what the costume makers use to make eva body panels for the movies some use super glue and if done correctly won't show the cut and you get it done quickly and easily.

you can check this out if you wish on you tube
[youtu.be]

The best day to be alive is always tomorrow !!
Think out side the box when all else fails !!!
Wi.

Eddie
This is a great opportunity to strip the old grips off and replace with state of the art WINN grips. Once you use them there is no turning back. Super easy to install and feel amazing.

If you go to all the trouble to fill and shrink wrap you will have more time in the repair and not nearly as good a final product

Tom