I went through the search process but it just makes my head spin. I'm in the process of assembling parts for a Rainshadow Revelation crankbait blank and I want to try the Winn Grips. It seems there has been much talk about fitment with particular reel seats. I like an exposed seat with split grips. I am not partial to any particular seat as I simply have not had any experience with them at this point other than whats on my off the shelf rods. Obviously comfort, function, and looks are important. Sure would be nice to be able to walk into a shop and "sample" some of the options out there. Would love to hear some recommendations from you experienced builders out there. Also, my blank is 9.62 mm at the seat location. Given that it is an exposed seat do I use a 9.5 or a 10.0 mm seat?

Thanks for your help,
Rick Elrod

i prefer the 3.5" grip with the 2.5" fighting butt in the winn split grips. i wish they had more colors and every color in every part. ive had good luck with the fuji reel seats. well made. you will like the revelation crankbait blank. im finishing up one for myself right now.

Rick - Any of the 1.08 OD rear grips will fit the Fuji ECS and ACS seats; PacBay minima, EB, and EBX seats; and American Tackle ECRS seat, However, the tenon on most of these grips are 20 mm, which is smaller than the 23 mm inlet size at the rear of the reel seats. This is not a problem because you can cut the tenon off, and let the epoxy fill the gap or made a tenon to fit. Some Winn rear grips do have a 23 mm tenon, such as the MHX rear grip, the Fuji multi purpose rear grip, the Winn 4" casting swell rear grip, and the Forecast rear grip. Most of the 2.5" colored fighting butts have a 0.47 bore which is larger than your blanks butt diameter, so if you want a colored fighting butt you will have to use 1.5" fighting butt or a 1.75 straight taper and add a Winn end cap. You will probably not need to ream any of the grips, because of the small diameter of your blank. As far as the reel seat is concerned get the 9.5 mm seat, you can ream it slightly to get a perfect fit. Too large is not good! Hope this helps.
Norm

I was looking into shrinking "Winn grip" or a "X wrap" shrink tube over existing cork grip. Cork is in good shape but is rather small in diameter. A shrink wrap might be enough to fix diameter issue without removing reel seat and replacing cork handle.

But, I read water can penetrate behind shrink material. If that is the case, water would never evaporate. Couldn't trapped water become a moldy, funky smelling grip over time? Fishing is a wet environment, not considering condensation which you would never see happen.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/19/2017 08:58PM by Wayne Hughes.