Butt Removel

Just got handed a rod that has great action but the butt sucks. How hard are the factory foam grips to remove. I heard they put a lot of epoxy in there, any tips?

 Mike, Eric probably has more options, but I have retro-fit rod butts by cutting  off the old one with a razor knife and scraping the blank clean.Thats the easy part. The harder part is putting on a new grip backwards. I make a tapered plug for the end of the blank to slide the grip over. If its a stiff grip material it will be might be hard to stretch over the butt end. I use a home made compressed air installer on the tuff ones.Mask off the reel seat etc. then coat the blank end with epoxy and slide the grip home.
 PM or call me if you want.

Yep... Shimmy is on the right track.  You need to use a razor blade to remove the grip as Mark stated.  You'll need to get the blank really clean and free of goobers in order to slide the new grip in place. 

In this situation, I've made a shim for the butt of the rod by finding a piece of aluminum tubing or scrap blank that fits snugly into the butt of the rod blank.  Then use lots of masking tape to make a nice gradual taper from the butt of the rod down to the shim tubing. 

When you slide your new foam grip into place, use epoxy as the lubricant and apply it over the shim and the taper and up onto the rod blank.  Make sure the foam grip gets coated on the inside as it is slid up onto the rod. 

EVA foam will expand about another 50% of it's inside diameter.  Heating the grip in the microwave until it's hot (be careful here) or placing the grip on some other radiant heat source immediately before installation will make it expand easier too. 

The more firm the grip material, the less stretchy it is. 

Mike... I have lots of EVA foam and hyplaon on hand.  If you want to swing by some time after work, I'd be glad to help you with this.

EK

Depending on the stick, you might consider doing cork wrap or tuna cord instead.  But the reels you use will need to have a clamp if you go this route.

Mike... I have lots of EVA foam and hyplaon on hand.  If you want to swing by some time after work, I'd be glad to help you with this.

Cool Erik thanks for the offer do you have reel seats also or should I go out and buy one first. 

I have quite a few reel seats on hand... very likely something that'll work.  Bring it by and we'll take a look. 

EK