Picked up a Shakespeare Wonderod fly rod that is broken about 6 inches down from the first eye on the lower largest diameter rod section.

The fiberglass is splintered, but not broken in half.  I would like to repair this rod and use it for bream fishing.  

I have some fiberglass cloth and resin that I use to repair and reinforce all sorts of things. Can this approach be used on a rod???

I was going to work some resin down in the splintered area and then wrap the rod in cloth and resin and let dry and then sand smooth.

Anyone here ever use this for a rod repair? thanks

I will try to post a pic of the rod break.

I hope you had it insured.  I would not mess with it until you have settled the claim with the post office.  You will need to cut the rod and insert a piece inside to support the blank.  otherwise it will just fold on the repair location.

Good Luck,

Tom D.

No insurance. I got my money back from the seller and he just gave me the rod.  It was only $18.  I have another Wonderod from this era and like it a lot.  

What kind of insert would you use to put inside the blank?

If it was not so close to the ferrule, I could just make it a three piece rod.  

Why could you not insert some kind of silicone adhesive type stuff into the broken area and let it solidify and bond with the inside of the  rod to give you a bendable filler inside the rod and then apply the reinforcing fiberglass cloth/resin to the outside?  Anybody try this?

You will want to insert part of another rod in the middle.  That is if you have a rod that will fit inside of it.  The problem with just fixing the outside is that the inner rod will still colapse on itself when put under load.  You may get away with epoxying a peice of a wooden dowel rod in there if you don't have a rod you can cut to fit.  If it is close enough to the rod split you may just want to shorten the rod a few inches and go with that.

Tom D.

Good luck trying to fix that !

You will want to insert part of another rod in the middle. That is if you have a rod that will fit inside of it. The problem with just fixing the outside is that the inner rod will still colapse on itself when put under load. You may get away with epoxying a peice of a wooden dowel rod in there if you don't have a rod you can cut to fit. If it is close enough to the rod split you may just want to shorten the rod a few inches and go with that.

Tom D.

Tom D. Thanks for the tip. I took a long length of lightweight alder dowel and spent some time on the belt sander tapering it until it snugly fit all the way from the butt section to the ferrule. I then coated it with epoxy and slid it down the center of the blank several times while coating with more epoxy until I had enough on the dowel and then I tapped it as far as it would go. I then worked epoxy in the cracks and taped it shut for an evening letting the epoxy harden. Then the next day I lightly sanded the epoxy excess off of the cracked area and then I coated the area with a light coat of epoxy and then took some nylon thread and wrapped the entire area of the crack and let it dry a day. I took the rod out today and fished it and caught several nice bream with it. I actually like the added stiffness the dowel gives. It shoots a #7 line out like a rocket! How long it will hold up is just a guess, but for now, no problem.

I lucked out in that the end of the butt has a cap pressed on that holds one end of the reel tabs. I heated this cap up and it popped right off exposing the entire length of the inside of the rod blank. Old rod is back on the air again!

Glad it worked out for you.  It should last a long time.

Tom D.