Repairng Telescoping Crappie Fishing Poles
My 16' crappie fishing pole broke in the big wind we had here in Ohio a week ago. I have had it for over a year and have never had a problem with it before. I was holding up my sectional dipole and had a lot of stress on it - I had a lot of tension on the feed line, not just the antenna. I guess you could say I should have known better. Hey, I wasn't expecting 70+mph winds!
Anyway, the pole broke at the second section down about 8-10" from the top of that section. My repair uses fiberglass cloth and epoxy to re-join the sections. It isn't pretty, but it works!
The first step to joining the two pieces is to rough up the joint a bit. I used the wood saw on my swiss army knife. The goal here is to give the epoxy something to bite in to, not the slick black paint on the pole. The roughing will weaken the original material, but it is going to be coated with fiberglass so it doesn't matter.
I used a strip of fiberglass about 2" wide by 4" long. I wanted enough to wrap around the pole about 3 times.
I actually messed up here. The next step is to mix up some epoxy. I used 5 minute epoxy, but you really need to use 30 minute. The 5 minute sets WAY too fast. I had enough time to get the first layer and a half of fiberglass wrapped and squeegeed and then it started getting tacky. I had to rush the last bit of it and I never did get the fiberglass to lay correctly... Oh well, next time I know what to do!
You want to start by coating the joint with epoxy. Not too much, you don't want it being squeezed inside the pole. You want just enough to get the glass cloth to begin to adhere to. Get the cloth wrapped about half way around the pole and then start squeegeeing more epoxy in to it. You want the weave to nearly disappear in the epoxy. Keep working the epoxy in to the cloth all the way around being careful to keep good tension on the cloth but also not moving the cloth around too much. It takes a bit of skill to get it right. Again, use 30 minute epoxy!!! You will have to move real fast if you use 5 minute. 12 minute might be OK, but if this is your first time trying fiberglass I would highly recommend going with 30 minute just to have the extra set time.
Also be careful to keep the joint tight and straight. It will be impossible to do this while you work the glass cloth but once you get all laid down you want to press the pole pieces together and sight it (like you do lining up the rings on a fishing rod or checking the straightness of a 2x4) to make sure it is strait. Put a little bit of pressure wherever the pole needs it. The best time to do this is when the epoxy is viscus goo. Keep straightening the pole through the tacky phase and until the epoxy gets stiff but sticky. Lay it down in a position that will not put pressure in any direction on the pole to make sure it doesn't move.
After my repair the pole is still fully collapsable, however it does not collapse as easy as it did before. The tip section has to sqeeze past a glob of epoxy that got pressed in to the joint. Other than that it works great! I would say that if the pole breaks again it will not be in the same place.
Anyway, the pole broke at the second section down about 8-10" from the top of that section. My repair uses fiberglass cloth and epoxy to re-join the sections. It isn't pretty, but it works!
Notice how the pole broke - it is an off-set break, this actually helps in lining up the two sections later.
The first step to joining the two pieces is to rough up the joint a bit. I used the wood saw on my swiss army knife. The goal here is to give the epoxy something to bite in to, not the slick black paint on the pole. The roughing will weaken the original material, but it is going to be coated with fiberglass so it doesn't matter.
I used a strip of fiberglass about 2" wide by 4" long. I wanted enough to wrap around the pole about 3 times.
I actually messed up here. The next step is to mix up some epoxy. I used 5 minute epoxy, but you really need to use 30 minute. The 5 minute sets WAY too fast. I had enough time to get the first layer and a half of fiberglass wrapped and squeegeed and then it started getting tacky. I had to rush the last bit of it and I never did get the fiberglass to lay correctly... Oh well, next time I know what to do!
You want to start by coating the joint with epoxy. Not too much, you don't want it being squeezed inside the pole. You want just enough to get the glass cloth to begin to adhere to. Get the cloth wrapped about half way around the pole and then start squeegeeing more epoxy in to it. You want the weave to nearly disappear in the epoxy. Keep working the epoxy in to the cloth all the way around being careful to keep good tension on the cloth but also not moving the cloth around too much. It takes a bit of skill to get it right. Again, use 30 minute epoxy!!! You will have to move real fast if you use 5 minute. 12 minute might be OK, but if this is your first time trying fiberglass I would highly recommend going with 30 minute just to have the extra set time.
Also be careful to keep the joint tight and straight. It will be impossible to do this while you work the glass cloth but once you get all laid down you want to press the pole pieces together and sight it (like you do lining up the rings on a fishing rod or checking the straightness of a 2x4) to make sure it is strait. Put a little bit of pressure wherever the pole needs it. The best time to do this is when the epoxy is viscus goo. Keep straightening the pole through the tacky phase and until the epoxy gets stiff but sticky. Lay it down in a position that will not put pressure in any direction on the pole to make sure it doesn't move.
After my repair the pole is still fully collapsable, however it does not collapse as easy as it did before. The tip section has to sqeeze past a glob of epoxy that got pressed in to the joint. Other than that it works great! I would say that if the pole breaks again it will not be in the same place.
posted by Steve at
1:14 AM
1 Comments:
Interesting idea.
The same method could be used to permanently lock the pole in its extended position, by wrapping and using epoxy on the joints. Just the solution I was looking for.
tnx es 73 w4kaz
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