Phillipson 9' 7 weight

Dave Westburg

Dave Westburg

Fish the classics
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Bought a 9' Phillipson Powerpakt on Craigslist for $200 yesterday. Classic gold wraps with black edges.It weighs 6 ounces and is a powerful 7 weight. Plan to use it for bull trout and sea run cutthroat.
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Why did Bill Phillipson put such poor quality plastic reel seats on such great bamboo rods? The reel seat has a hairline crack (not unusual for Phillipsons) and a tiny part of the seat at the top has chipped and come away. Anyone have ideas on how I can fix the missing chip without replacing the entire reel seat?
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Good score, Dave! That’s a nice looking rod.

I’ve read that plastic was the new/modern “thing” back then, so wood inserts took a back seat for some builders. Heddon in particular comes to mind for their plastic seats as does Winston. And for the same reason aluminum was a “thing” as well, as Phillipson also latched onto that idea, as I know you’re well aware of already.

Outside of replacing it, don’t know of a fix but there’s probably some options out there.
Maybe just fish it the way it is if it holds a reel well enough.
 
Greg Armstrong said:
Outside of replacing it, don’t know of a fix but there’s probably some options out there.
Maybe just fish it the way it is if it holds a reel well enough.
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I think you can guess one of the places I'll be fishing this rod.

The seat holds the Beaudex reels and their short stubby reel feet just fine. My Farlows President which has a longer thinner foot rocks a little bit when I'm casting.
 
I have used G-Flex to repair a PVC shower fitting on my boat. The stuff is strong and pretty much sticks to anything to put it on. I'm not sure about how moldable it is or shapeable with a file or sandpaper after the cure. It cures white toned, but I think you might be able to color it black

Mike
 
Sweet rod. I wonder if a little JB Weld smeared in there then cleaned up might work?
 
If you want to go high-end, check with Bellinger to seek if they still have any down locking Payne style classic seats with those beautiful ebony black inserts. That'd give the same general look as the original seat, just fancier.
 
Dave Westburg said:
My Farlows President which has a longer thinner foot rocks a little bit when I'm casting.
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I have used some of that clear hockey tape I wrap my tapered joints with to combat the rocking. Depending on what it needs, you can either lay a strip down lengthwise under the reel foot or do a couple of wrap-arounds over the seat area.
 
_WW_ said:
I have used some of that clear hockey tape I wrap my tapered joints with to combat the rocking. Depending on what it needs, you can either lay a strip down lengthwise under the reel foot or do a couple of wrap-arounds over the seat area.
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I may try that. Have several rolls of hockey and rod splicing tape which I use to splice my Sharpes.
 
Dave Westburg said:
I may try that. Have several rolls of hockey and rod splicing tape which I use to splice my Sharpes.
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Some guys have used a strip of leather also. Back in the day there were no industry wide standards and most of the reel feet were made for larger diameter seats.
 
nice find! that'd be a fun smallie rod too!
 
Looks like a bakelite reel seat. I don't think it's repairable. I guess it depends how wedded you are to authenticity. If it were mine, I'd replace the reel seat with a nice wood insert model. A nice find nonetheless.
 
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