Advice Needed - GripLok Slipping

I have an Anyfish Anywhere 13' Beach and recently fitted it with an Abu Griplok sliding reel reel seat, which I was told at the time was the correct diameter. I use it with two reels, a 525 mag and Mag Elite. The problem is that both reels slip off centre after a while (the Abu is worse than the 525 for this). I've screwed it as tight as I can and as the reels don't move back and forwards, I can only assume I have the correct diameter GripLok for the rod.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to make the Griplok keep the reel in line with the rings (preferably one that doesn't involve glue :wink: )

you might need to put some more shrink tubing on your rod around the area were you fit the reel seat this bringing the diameter of the rod up a wee bit :!: :!: worth a try

Must have come loose from all the fish you caught yesterday in winning the Crosshaven rambler (on my hot spot)
Have you tried some backing under it.

Get Some coasters or a proper reel seat. Griplocks are a ton of crap. Ive bin hearing good things about the century reel seat though.

From memory the smallest grip lock is over 25mm for a butt of 24mms its clear it will slip. The abu grip locks are not renowned for keeping locked but you could add another layer of shrink wrap. I have the 24mm penn reel seat and find it very stable on my AA 13 foot. Alot of those out there complain the penn reel seat is too big but I'm used to it. The double locking makes them more stable.

Donagh

4 replies in less than 10 minutes! Great stuff. Thanks lads.

I'm thinking another layer of shrink wrap is the way to go.

anyone use these anymore?

they're nice and light?!

Mark,

The Ian Golds fixed spool rods have the Fuji plate/zip reel seat fitted, they are way better then the first plate reel seats years ago...they do grip the reel well enough.

It may be mind over matter, dont ask me why...I dont like them for a multiplier...fixed spool...great though.

Tom.

i put a layer of inulation tape under the area where the griplock will fit and have had no problems.you can build up thin layers so that there is a snug fit before the reel is placed in the reel seat.when you lock the reel in place you get a very solid hold. dont get coasters, think their days are numbered

Tom have used them with the multiplier, pvc tape and a cable tie in the middle. snug fit. just don't know if they'll stand up to heavy fishin- will find out!

as for coasters- forget it! life's to short!

I have two rods fitted with the griplok, one had to have a bit of shrink tube fitted to stop it slipping, but only because the smallest they do is 26mm and my rod butt was 26.3mm or something like that so i had to use a 28mm. The other is fine it has a 28mm butt and the 28mm griplok when titened down does not move at all.

i bought an abu esprite 13 foot with a griplock and my sports mag wobbled all over the place i bought an abu priemium 13.5 foot and it had a screw up reelseat fed up one day i swapped them around and hey presto problem solved the funny thing is both butts and top sections will fit each other i would say there is different shrink wrap on the butts
wouldnt you think abu would make sure that rods ,reel seats and reels would all work well together or maybe they test rods with a 525 :lol:

i bought an abu esprite 13 foot with a griplock and my sports mag wobbled all over the place i bought an abu priemium 13.5 foot and it had a screw up reelseat fed up one day i swapped them around and hey presto problem solved the funny thing is both butts and top sections will fit each other i would say there is different shrink wrap on the butts
wouldnt you think abu would make sure that rods ,reel seats and reels would all work well together or maybe they test rods with a 525 :lol:

nice rod the abu premium! the tip is lovely!

I got the following email from the lads at Anyfish Anywhere asking what they recommended. I'm not sure I'm ready to add a fixed winch fitting as I'm still trying to find the best position that suits me. What do the rest of you think of fixed fittings for multipliers?

Hi Paul,

We always recommend using a Fuji DPS26 FIXED winch fitting...
You can use an adjustable one if you really need it, but we always find a fixed one far far better!

Hope this helps,

Best regards,

Jules & Ian

i got a similar reply from AA about my AA rock rod...26mm etc, but i tried one in the shop on the butt on another AA rock and it seemed too big.. in a previous post somewhere, manxfisher said he used a griplock on his...maybe the smallest griplock at 25.something???

Until recently I only ever used fuji fixed reel seats so I am still undecided on sliding reel seats. I am currently using them while trying to decide if i want to permanently switch to fishing with the reel in the low position. I don't expect that they will perform as well over a long period of time, but for now it seems to be working out just fine. The key appears to be making sure of a tight fitting, which usually requires some form of padding with tape/rubber/shrink wrap.

Phil: Yes, I have the 25.2mm abu griplock on my AA rock rod. It needed some padding underneath it (insulation tape in my case) to ensure a solid fitting but so far it seems to be working. I have only been using it for a couple of months so I don't know for sure yet how it will stand the test of time. No slippage yet....

Slightly off topic - I have been using the century sliding seat on another rod and I much prefer that fitting compared to the abu. It looks like something you could make yourself out of a standard fuji winch type fitting a coaster and some careful hacksawing ;)

[phanover]

Well, acting on advice received I went off and ordered diamond shrink wrap from Veals. Despite what you may have read or heard this stuff is dead easy to apply. The trick is hold the rod upright, keep turning and pour the boiling water from the bottom (i.e. heat rises, sounds obvious doesn't it?). Things were looking really good.. It matched the colour of the rod perfectly and had a really nice grippy feel. Problem was the bloody Griplok was now too tight and wouldn't go back on.

Out of desperation, I tried the coasters supplied. Result! The combo of the grippy shrink wrap and the tight fit of the coasters somehow felt "right" to me. Certainly way more secure than the GripLok ever did. So essentially, I've come to the conclusion that maybe coasters ain't so bad after all, particularly if you don't need to move the reel. Anyone out there feel the same way?

Last edited by phanover on Wed Mar 14, 2007 10:25 pm, edited 3 times in total.

Yes. I dont like reel seats at all.

I found the best people to ask about what reel seat will fit what rod is pop an email to veals. If they supply the rod like the AA range you won't even need to measure the diameter.

Donagh