Hello: I was given 5 castaway exposed blank reel seats, they are 14MM, 14.5MM & 15MM which I had no idea what that was when they were given to me, so I would like to be able to use them, but the bass rods I build are way too small for that size. Is there any way that these can be made useful or do I need to find someone that needs them that big to give them to?



thanks for any ideas

terry

Terry hold onto them as you may come across a need for them in future builds. With that type of seat you can ream them to fit larger blanks but don't want to try shimming for smaller.

You may be able to use a carbon fiber reel seat insert in the size 15 mm seat. That is the same ID as the Fuji TVST size 16 reel seat which requires a reel seat insert. The carbon fiber inserts come with a foam core and can be reamed to fit a blank. If this works it may be quite possible to ream the size 14 mm and 14.5 mm seats to accept an insert. You can also make your own insert to fit.
[www.mudhole.com]
[www.mudhole.com]
Norm

thank you for the replies, i knew everyone would have ideas on these, i will hold on to them and i like the look of the CF inserts.

terry

I made a ECS seat fit a much smaller blank using one of these.

[www.mudhole.com]

Glue it into the seat, bore and ream to fit the blank, and trim away the part of the arbor in the exposed area of the seat. A careful sanding of the trimmed part, before installing the seat on the blank, gave me an acceptable looking seat. I wish I had pics. I gave the finished rod to a friend, and did not think about pics until it was too late.

Your best bet is to hang on to those seats until you need one that size, but what I did will do the trick. You just have to be slow and careful trimming away the excess arbor. Trim it over sized and sand the rest of the way.