For a couple of years I’ve been using fiberglass offerings in lighter weights to fill the niche when I get to chuck some fluff. I’ve found them a joy to fish and very robust. Having enjoyed using fiberglass in lighter rod weights I immediately thought about getting a one as a bit of an elephant gun, you know something in the 9-11 weight range. I thought of vintage glass but not seeing much in the local area started to look at new glass to fill the niche.
TheSwift Epic Bandit, a 7’9” #10, seemed to be spot on. I continued to procrastinated about the need for a new rod in the quiver. It was good to see the Bandit being talked about. The Fiberglass Manifesto gave them a wrap and some locals built, fished and talked about their experience with the.
http://thefiberglassmanifesto.blogspot. ... build.html
http://thefiberglassmanifesto.blogspot. ... andit.html
http://www.saltwaterflyfishing.com.au/b ... 0wt.14142/
I was getting an itchy buying finger but couldn’t get my head around a custom rolled one and doubted my abilities to organise the components, fit, wrap and epoxy one to a standard I’d be happy to. Then along came the Swift Epic Ready to Build kits. This seemed to take care of one part of the puzzle all the components were selected and ready for the blank.
I then started to see a few online reviews with the kits and Flylife even covered a woe to go build using the kit
http://forum.flylife.com.au/phpbb3/view ... t=epic+kit
Well that had me convinced I should be able to have a go and get a product I was happy with. The next piece of the puzzle for me was a knee arthroscopy and being “laid up” for a week or so, an upcoming fishing trip with the kids to Exmouth Gulf again and a discount coupon for the epic kit. What could go wrong…
Operation booked – tick
Epic Ready to Wrap Bandit Kit ordered - tick
Well all that left was some waiting. I used the time to build some wooden stands and such for wrapping and drying guides and to convert my DIY 240v fly dryer to a rod dryer.
I also became acquanted with YouTube and some forums and articles. It also allowed me to download the swift manual and read that cover to cover a few times.
All that left then was the excitement that can only come from a postage tracking system that just marks big events, such as picked up, departed country, cleared customes and then nothing until after you’ve got it. It was an exciting day when it finally arrived. Whic took a little longer than planned. I got caught up in a component shortage Swift experienced around some guides which delayed my kit being sent by a week or so. Great communication around the delay though.
This meant though that it arrived after my op and after my recovery and return to work. Where was I going to find the time to give it the love and attention I thought it needed?
Well I opened the kit and everything was laid out. I now also had a hard copy of their build instructions that I had downloaded. So after feeding kids and getting them to bed, sending my wife off to her exercise class I made a start.
So I measured up and marked the guide spacing on the blank. Then the next step was to fit and glue the reel seat, grip and fighting butt. Sounded and looked easy in the manual and when I said it fast enough. It was that easy too after a couple of dry fits and following the instructions for preparations. I mixed the epoxy, slapped it on, slid the components on and there I was after half an hour a rod butt standing up in the corner with drying epoxy looking just like a bought one.
Admission 1: When you have a component you can’t identify and isn’t specified have a Google before proceeding. My custom wrap doesn’t have the trim band between the fighting butt and reel seat. Luckily Google said that didn’t matter much either.
Suggestion to Swift 1: Update your manual to include components for the heavy weight rods you are now offering to include instructions for all components.
It was still early and I was still itching to keep going. So what was next – wrap guides with silk. How hard could that be?
Lets start with the big stripping guides, they’ll be easy want they… get some masking tape, hold guide in place using it on one foot, start thread, turn the blank, transition up foot, finish wrap. Umm, that looks ok, let’s do the other side. Well that was better let’s do some more. They look better, three turns of silk before foot up and over. Better cut some of those early “good ones” off and redo. Woops wife’s home, its late I’ve only got a couple to go what should I do. Despite advice I’ll just put this away and wrap the remaining guides tomorrow.
Admission 2: Even when the guides say their good to go, have a look with a file and ramp them some more to get a better transition from foot to rod blank.
Luckily I have an understanding partner and kids who don’t touch Dad’s projects. So the next evening out comes the top section with a couple more guides to be wrapped. Wow they were done quickly, it’s still early I bet I could put the first coat on. Better set up the dryer.
Yep, I can do this I’ll do the first epoxy. 1.5ml of that, 1.5 of that and then thin with 1.5ml of surgical spirits. Tick. Um start at guide foot, and saturate silk. That was easy, no bubbles I can see, lets keep going. Wow eight guides done and the winding check at grip/rod transition. How did those two micro bubbles get on that stripping guide foot tunnel? Not to worry I’ll apply some gentle heat and they’ll go. Ummm, no they didn’t. Bit more thinned epoxy? Nope that didn’t work. Well I can live with that. Leave it alone and have a look in the morning.
The morning revealed the two micro bubbles had settled in and not gone anywhere. Looking at the left over epoxy it hadn’t dried and was still quite liquid. WTF, lets see what the afternoon looks like, I’d like to put the second ,and hopefully last, coat on tonight.
Admission 3: When you double/triple check epoxy volumes get it right. I’d only put 1.0ml of hardener in. It took a bit longer to dry.
So again after dinner I followed instructions and mixed up the right volumes of epoxy this time. Instead of applying on the wrapping jig I left it on the dryer and applied it while the blank was turning. It was fairly simple but I did have to check to make sure the epoxy was applied evenly either side of the guide foot. I had a couple of run offs that I cleaned up with the surgical spirits and an ear bud. Feeling confident I even applied a thin coat over the rod label to protect that.
The next day it all seemed good so in the late afternoon I fitted the tip guide with the 5min epoxy.
I was patient and waited until I finally strung it and had a cast. Now I didn’t have a 10wt line but I did have a Rio Saltwater 9 and a Rio Leviathan 400g. Different strokes for the different weights but happy to say that I could belt out a cast to 70-80’ without more than two back casts with both lines. I’m going to dig out my Leviathan 350g line and see what that does as that seems like a better weight for the rod. I'm looking forward to fishing, and catching, with this rod as I work out what makes it purr for me.
Suggestion to Swift 2: The rod sock is a bit tight for getting the largest stripping guide piece in, can you make it another 5-10mm wider please.
Conclusions:
I can build a rod – took about 6 hours of work with the rod dryer.
It saves me some money
I’ve got some practise to do to get to the level I think I can achieve
The level of finish I achieved is more than satisfactory for my first build
Not sure why I’ve waited this long to build my first rod
Also like to say thank you to all those that provided advice. I listened and used most of it. It will add to my next build.
It is now all packed up in the Epic rod tube to go to Exmouth for the July school holidays.
