thefunkychicken

Thanks Dubs.The fix-up of the paint problems went fairly well.The chips are all covered up but I've got a couple of masking tape marks but they should come out with some fiddling with some fine paper.Colour preserver will be put on soon, hopefully this arvo thanks to the terrible weather here. Epoxy next, then probably straight inot the 3rd project.Cheers.

I've got a question for you Dubs:Does the shop you refer to stock the grip, seat & guides kit for these Samurai blanks?Thanks.

Thanks for the info mate.I might give it a shot but the glass blank is pretty shiny on it's own so I'll sit on my hands for a bit and stare at it until I make a decision.I'm gonna stitch up an additional rod for for the old man so I've got a bit of time before I send them off.Apart from rod varnish, the first one is now done - a photo will come soon - I've just gotta leave the rod to harden up for a bit then give it a test cast. However, the second home-build is underway under a different thread.Cheers for the input fellas. Tight lines.

I got bitten by this rod building bug as soon as the first few guides were wrapped on my first attempt (see previous topic) and ordered some more products for another build.The first one was a bottom end of the price range kit because I didn't want to go stupid straight out. Without heading straight to a Loomis, Hastings, or North Fork, I did want to hike it up a notch so I went for a Samurai 2-4kg 7' graphite spin setup with Alconite guides.The blank has a very nice fabric patter through it and is light as anything. The guides are all very well machined and look great. I decided to go for met

I had to have a quick look over my shoulder as though someone has been watching me.... yes the spigot worked its way out a few times until I jammed it in there with some Magic Putty.Rod varnish? I'm not aware of this stuff. It obviously is applied to the blank in some manner to give it some shine. Is it a spray or a brush job? Where do I find it? And, is it really necessary?Thanks for the heads up. Cheers.

I got my BBQ roasting motor, a 40mm PVC cap, the spigot from a homebrew bottling tube, and some duct tape and made a drying spinner; I got some rollerblade wheels fromm the local Cashies and made some roller supports.The epoxy went on well, I'll put another coat on tomorrow then leave it inside in the warmth for a few days to let the epoxy go off properly then give it a test run before I mail it off to the old man.Now, just to sit and watch the epoxy get shinier and shinier.Hope the photos look ok. Cheers.

The binds are now all done. I will probably do two more decorative trims down near the foregrip when I work out what I'm going to put there for a label type thing.Next step is to apply some colour preserver then rig up some sort of slowly rotating drying lathe so I can get the serious chemicals out.I'm finding this mildly amusing and quite satisfying, so much so that I've ordered some more products to do some more... "What? Another bloody hobby!" says The Noisy One.Here's some photos. I'll throw up some more as I go on.Cheers.

Gday.The missus's cousin is a pro in the southe-east, imagine my delight when he rocks up on my doorstep with a carton of beer, a bottle of rum, and this... The arm in the above photo doesn't belong to the skinniest bloke in town. The thong is a size 14, the bottle is a Coopers 750ml, and that is carton of piss.I have seen photos of bigger Crayfish but I'm pretty sure that this one was the biggest I've laid my eyes on. My old mate reckons it would've hit 3.5kg. I must admit it didn't taste as soft & sweet as the ones closer to the average size but I'm far from complaining as the poor old

Morning chaps. Thanks for the posts.Chief Sik:17'???!!! That's massive. You'll have no problem getting into the gutter with that, or off the continental shelf for that matter. Hope you've got big arms. The blank might have come through a bit purplish but it's as black as a dark steer's backside on a moonless desert night.Brenton:No resin/epoxy yet mate. I'm doing all the bindings first then do the epoxying all at once when I'm done with the thread.Del:Saints???!!! Go wash your keyboard out. Harvey was a legend but you can keep the rest of them. Haha. Cheers.Rockin Nev:The Crows colours will ha

Gday.Being side-lined with an injury from fishing or most other physical activity for the past little while, I thought I'd try my hand at making my own rod.Given it's my first go I didn't want to pour too much money into it so I went for a cheap 7' 6-8kg glass blank kit from an online retailer.I got the old Araldite out and stuck the EVA grips, reel seat & butt cap into position, then I made up my own wrapping jig/stand thing and got to it.My first colour scheme seemed like a good idea in my head - snazzy white & red (no I'm not a Swans supporter) - but it turned out to look pretty cra

I've got a 6'6" 2-5kg Mexican Raider with a little TD Sol on it.I love the little thing: great for whiting, bream, etc and it's pulled in a couple of legal Mullys.I got it as a birthday present but the price was still visible so I had a stickybeak... I think it was a bit over $100 from AC at Christie's.Good luck with it, cheers.

G'day.I've got a couple of questions:When manufacturers are listing the line capacities of certain reels they may specify a capacity corresponding to guage (200m/12lb) which is fairly self explanatory....What is "PE"?How do you work out equivalent classes between lb & PE?What's wrong with just going via lb/kg?Thanks in advance.

Ta for the wishes chaps.I've respooled the flick stick with 4lb braid & 8lb leader so I think I can safely go fishing soon and not do too much damage to the old spine with 1.8kg fuse wire wrapped around the little Sol.Cheers.

Discretion is the better part of valour.

Gday all.A spinal injury has me confined to light duties for a while so I decided to repay the favour to my fishing gear.I'm not game to totally dismantle my reels and give them a service so I kept it to simply giving them a good clean and light touch with the magic INOX.Not content with doing the reels, reel seats, ferrules, etc I moved onto:Leathermans, Swiss Army Knife, lip-grippers, landing net, kayak parts, rod holders, knives, socket sets, ratchet spanner sets, shifting spanners, vise-grips, scissors, pliers & sidecutters & multi-grips, tin-snips, drillbits, Stanley knives, mitre

Dunno if I've posted this but here's the rack on the ceiling.Garage is not too huge so space is at a premium.Jigsaw did the cutting, biscuit joiner did the joining.

I personally let my tyres down a fair bit, aiming for 12 to 16psi depending on the conditions.It's just like everything else: you don't get anything else for free! The more you let them down means the more traction you get BUT it becomes much, much easier to roll a tyre off the rim or break a bead if you get a bit of a bounce up by accident. Both of these things will stop you dead in your tracks.A common misconception when letting down tyres is looking for them to "balloon" out sideways (ie- get wider). They do this a bit but this is not what gives you most of your added traction; it's more du

Sweeeeet.

My experience has been that reels in my carry on luggage have been checked to ensure there are no hooks attached, they've had no problem with them being fully spooled and sent me on my way.I've always put my rods in a hard tube and checked them in (no excess baggage bullsh$# you just have to take them to the oversize baggage counter after you've checked in).Lures and hooks and what not have always been in my checked in baggage and after doing the above every time I've travelled I've had no headaches.If you do get pulled up just be as nice as you possibly can and smile as much as your face allo

rocknev wrote: Are you sure your brother didn't go and move them all without telling you?

I've got a Shimano Exage 2500 that I got a couple of years ago for a bit over $100 and I'm very pleased with it.I've also got a Diawa TD Sol 2000 which is a bloody nice reel to use, but a bit more expensive (around $300 I think).I'm happy with the Shimano though. I just looked through some current catalogue, a Shimano Symetre 2500 will take about 140yd of 8lb and cost around $150. Can't really go wrong I reckon.Good luck with it.

Gday guys.Can anyone give me a quick rough idea as to how far offshore those marks are?Thanks alot in advance.Cheers.

You lot are obviously in the know!I went on a charter from the Fleurieu on Monday. We fished for some bait until about 11:30 then ran for the first of "a few guaranteed spots".Ended up with 4 medium sized snapper and half a dozen ruggers. It was pretty rough out there even in a good boat, but a pretty poor catch between 6 blokes given we were out on the water from 9am to 7pm.I might try for a solo run for the Spencer waters on my next lot of days off in January. It might be landbased or in the plastic sharkbait boat if I can get the images of big bitey things out of my mind.Good on ya for thos

I've used each of the methods mentioned above.A quick wrap of electrical or non-fabric duct tape works in stopping the braid from slipping.However, I'm slightly more of a fan of using a small amount of mono. I usually use just enough mono to pretty much cover the metal of the spool, then albright it to your braid. On a small reel with 6 to 10 pond braid I'll use 4 to 8 pound mono for backing; though on my bigger Penn I used a few winds of 48 pound mono before spooling it with 60 pound braid.Good luck with it. Tight lines.