One of my favourite back-end set ups is a Guideline Hover / Intermediate head with a 5ft Michael Evans Fast Sink Polyleader, 5ft of 23lb Seaguar and a 1/2 Inch bottle tube.
I have always wanted to streamline the join between the Polyleader and the Seaguar. At first I got a standard Airflo 10ft Polyleader and stripped 5ft of coating off using acetone. This gave me a combined tip with no join but I found the nylon used was a bit thick and did not have the abrasion resistance of the Seaguar.
I weighed a 5ft Michael Evans Fast Sink Polyleader and found it was about 30grains which is equivalent to T6, i.e. it weighs 6 grains per foot. So somehow I needed to add 5ft of T6 coating onto a ten foot length of Seaguar.
I had a search on the net and came up with the following products. Basically it is a flexible PVC dip coating system. I have experimented with by adding microballon powder to make a floating coating or adding powdered tungsten to make a sinking coating.
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Here is what you need.
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Roughen up the surface of the Seaguar with a scotchbrite pad to provide a key.
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Tie a loop at on end and a weight at the other to hang it up when drying.
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Dip in primer to provide better adhesion between the line and the coating.
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Here are the floating microballons and the sinking tungsten powder. This is what is added to flylines to make them sink or float.
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Mixing up the coating. I had a go at calculating the amount of tungsten powder to add but in the end it came down to trial and error by doing foot long sections and weighing until I got the desired mix.
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Hang up to dry after dipping in the coating.
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Here is my first attempt after applying a final shine coat.
The result is not as good as the factory made ones and I had to smooth the coating out a bit using a rag soaked in thinners once it was hanging to dry.
I plan to get a set of micro drill bits and make myself an extrusion system. From what I can see there has been no effect on the strength of the line and appears to be really flexible. I don't know how durable it will be, but if it is a success then it will be a handy way of customising tips.
Also Plastidip could be used for coating the whipped loops on the end of lines instead of Aquasure.
Cheers
Neil
I have always wanted to streamline the join between the Polyleader and the Seaguar. At first I got a standard Airflo 10ft Polyleader and stripped 5ft of coating off using acetone. This gave me a combined tip with no join but I found the nylon used was a bit thick and did not have the abrasion resistance of the Seaguar.
I weighed a 5ft Michael Evans Fast Sink Polyleader and found it was about 30grains which is equivalent to T6, i.e. it weighs 6 grains per foot. So somehow I needed to add 5ft of T6 coating onto a ten foot length of Seaguar.
I had a search on the net and came up with the following products. Basically it is a flexible PVC dip coating system. I have experimented with by adding microballon powder to make a floating coating or adding powdered tungsten to make a sinking coating.
Here is what you need.
Roughen up the surface of the Seaguar with a scotchbrite pad to provide a key.
Tie a loop at on end and a weight at the other to hang it up when drying.
Dip in primer to provide better adhesion between the line and the coating.
Here are the floating microballons and the sinking tungsten powder. This is what is added to flylines to make them sink or float.
Mixing up the coating. I had a go at calculating the amount of tungsten powder to add but in the end it came down to trial and error by doing foot long sections and weighing until I got the desired mix.
Hang up to dry after dipping in the coating.
Here is my first attempt after applying a final shine coat.
The result is not as good as the factory made ones and I had to smooth the coating out a bit using a rag soaked in thinners once it was hanging to dry.
I plan to get a set of micro drill bits and make myself an extrusion system. From what I can see there has been no effect on the strength of the line and appears to be really flexible. I don't know how durable it will be, but if it is a success then it will be a handy way of customising tips.
Also Plastidip could be used for coating the whipped loops on the end of lines instead of Aquasure.
Cheers
Neil
