Rod for Raffle at Elk Tourney is Done...

that rod rules. craftsmanship is a beautiful thing.

once I catch a few good fish, and "deserve it", I'll be ordering a rod from you!

It seems like the idea of a floating rod is a good one.  I just glued some
pool noodle halves to the back of my rod with marine goop and tied it on
for good measure. the rod leash is pretty annoying. eagle-eye's hack was illuminating.

I guess the trick is for the floating stuff to not mess with the stiffness too
much. I have seen the issue of volume for a glass covered foam object
affect stiffness greatly.  This would be in the arcane world of slalom skateboards made of foam but covered with graphite and fibreglass. But it sure seems like the blank could be some kind of differently shaped foam filled thing that had serious positive bouyancy with some work. the spiral  guide placement/acid wrap might mess with that a bit.

look at the handles on this thing:

http://www.tackletour.com/reviewroguepg2.html

if they were filled with foam, that would be a good start of the buoyancy thing. Erik, I hope you have some success here, floating rods would really be a differentiating factor for a rod maker, especially with a patent or two
filed. good luck!