shimano charter special upgrade

the shimano charter special has been a local favorite for a long time. a friend was having constant problems with his. in moderate seas he'd take alot of spray over board and his reels were constantly soaked. he probably left them in freespool, because the drags were always wet. what i did was subsitute a penn ht-100 drag washer from the penn live liner spinning reel, part #6-5600. it is a "keyed" washer and the keys make the washer fit perfectly in the spool. first you have to bore out the center hole to match the stock washer, but a step drill makes quick work of that. you need to put a thick coat of shimano drag grease on both sides of the washer, then wipe off all the excess from the drag pressure plate side and leave the spool side a little goopy.

in terms of general upgrades to this reel, the replacement carbon fiber drag with drag grease is the first thing. second, remove the shields and clean out the bearings. third, replace the thin belleville washers with thick belleville washers (part #tt-0042a) from the tld 20/30 two speed. this would increasee the drag at strike by 25-33%. fourth would be a handle upgrade. you could drill out the existing grip, reuse the chrome plated arm and bolt on one of pete's over-sized grips. lastly, pete has the specs for a topless aluminum frame but has not started production. someday he'll get that topless frame out. it would make the charter special a killer 20-30# albacore reel.

so many reels, so little time. if you want to try any of these upgrades, let me know and i'll get the upgrade directions to you. alan