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Old Winston BiiX end cap repair

Rod Building 
951 views 2 replies 2 participants last post by  fivefish 
#1 ·
The end cap of the reel seat on my BIIx decided to pop off today while fishing. I was wondering what I need to do to either repair it or completely replace the reel seat, as I'm not a fan of the very simple reel seat design. My other Winston has a custom reel seat with a double uplocking design and I like it much better.

The issue with it popping off appears to just be glue.
 
#2 ·
If you retained the butt cap consider yourself lucky. You could replace the reel seat but that can turn into quite the project. Getting the old reel seat off without damage to anything else is the hardest, highest risk part. The most common approach is the wrap the reel seat and grip in a plastic freezer bag and immerse just the reel seat in hot (boiling) water in a pan on the stove to break the epoxy loose. Remember though all the other items adjacent to the reel seat are held together by glue as well (cork rings, front hood). No guarantee of success here. Some just go straight to the cutting tool and splice on an extension using a spare piece of blank. Then build up the new seat from there. Sure it can, and is done. The easy button is to go to the local hardware store, Auto Zone, or Walmart and buy Loctite General Purpose Epoxy (5 min). Clean up the butt cap and mating surface so it fits easily together. Apply epoxy around the entire perimeter for a water tight seal. Clean up any excess with alcohol and stand vertical with butt down. Done! 10 minute job with 24 hour cure time. If you just want a second lock ring and can find one the fits, you could add it prior to installing the butt cap. Individual reel seat components are not easily found though. Maybe you have a broken rod you can steal from.
 
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