Twin Ultralights I built for my girls

[Griff]

I finished building the twin ultralight rods for my gilrs. They wanted blue rods so I used a couple of 2003 model Forecast blanks. These blamks were not blue enough so I painted them. It was an extra step but it really came out great. The girls picked out all of the components and I had a great time building these rods. Micah chose lime green metallic wraps and Sloane chose rainbow metallic wraps.

[buckeyetrouter]

looks good Griff......I always kept my daughter involved in the outdoors as much as possible. I think that is part of what kept her grounded so well. I know you've heard it before, but spend as much time as you can with them, before you know it they will be asking you for the car keys.........enjoy the time.....

when I get my daughters rod finished, I'll try to post you a few pics.........

buckeyetrouter

[ttas67]

those wraps look really good. how did you paint that rod?

[Griff]

Thanks guys. My girls are really excited! We love to go fishing together.

I painted the rods with Krylon Fussion spray paint (it's made for painting plastic so it can flex). I let the paint cure for 7 days. Then I spayed on a coat of Spar Urethane and let that cure for 4 days. Then I was able to finally start building the rods.

[out4trout]

Hi Griff,
Great looking rods. I ditto the post about spending time with your girls. Where did you get the cork and how did you apply them to the blanks?
Keep up the good work!!
out4trout

[buckeyetrouter]

hey Griff.....the butt of my rod blank doesn't fit into the reel seat, did you have to bore your reel seat out or did it fit right out of the box

This was a kit so I don't know if they put the wrong reel seat in or if I need to bore it out, I'm leaning towards boaring it out since I want it done by Christmas......

what do you think.......

BTW.....I just received the Ross Flystart 1 reel that I ordered from LRO for my daughter and it is really a great little reel for the $


buckeyetrouter

[Griff]

Where did you get the cork and how did you apply them to the blanks?
Keep up the good work!!
out4trout

I ordered the cork grips *from Cabelas (Bamboo Burl Cork). *I had to ream out the fore grip a little (very little). *The rear grip came with a slightly larger inside diamter than that of the blank so I made a few small arbors with tape. *I used Flex Coat rod builder's epoxy to glue them in place.

[Griff]

hey Griff.....the butt of my rod blank doesn't fit into the reel seat, did you have to bore your reel seat out or did it fit right out of the box

This was a kit so I don't know if they put the wrong reel seat in or if I need to bore it out, I'm leaning towards boaring it out since I want it done by Christmas......

what do you *think.......

BTW.....I just received the Ross Flystart 1 reel that I ordered from LRO for my daughter and it is really a great little reel for the $


buckeyetrouter

When I built my fly rod, my reel seat fit right out of the box, in fact I had to build up some arbors with tape to make it fit tighter. I think Mudhole probably sent you the wrong reel seat. That blank should have a pretty small diameter. You might be able to boaring it out with a round file chucked into a drill (run it in reverse).

I would suggest calling mudhole and talking to them. They might overnight you the correct reel seat if you let them know it is for a Christmas present.

[buckeyetrouter]

opps.....too late. I wanted to get going so I bored the reel seet out and took a rat tail rasp to the cork....all turned out fine so far. I just finished the bottom section of the rod, excluding the rod finish on the wrap, hopefully I can finish the top section tomorrow and then take a few days to apply the flex coat. So far I am excited about *the way it is turning out, the rod is a dark green and I've used lime green and rainbow on each wrap. I'm hoping my daughter is excited that it is hand built, she sure seems to enjoy the wading/fly fishing portion. Oh yea, I slipped the Ross reel on and it is a really nice fit for an inexpensive good quality reel......thanks Paula for the reel suggestion.....

buckeyetrouter

ps.... the wrapping jig I built is working great........

[Griff]

I'm glad that worked out for you! I'm sure your daughter will be thrilled that Dad built her a rod. Have you thought about what you are going to write on the rod?