Let’s face it, for pole anglers breakages go with the territory. And the pole repair business has grown up due to the sheer cost of replacing even a single pole section on the more expensive poles.
Another thing that’s happened is anglers trying to carry out repairs themselves, and the leading pole repair company Esselle has now decided to release a kit to help us do just that, and at only £29.99.
Scott from Esselle says: “After witnessing first hand, the amount of failures we felt we needed to offer the option to purchase such a kit from a company with a proven track record, specialising in carbon fibre fishing pole repairs.
“Most people that have used some of the kits on the market already have found out the hard way, that these kits really aren’t suitable for major repairs such as breaks or crushes, regardless of what sort of wooden jig you can fashion, there is no replacement for a mandrel.
“A mandrel is a very expensive machined tool that carbon cloth is laid around to produce rod and pole sections from manufacture. At Esselle Pole Repairs we use mandrels for any and all broken section repairs. With that in mind, if you like a challenge and want to carry out minor repairs to splits, cracks and reinforcement wraps for puller kits etc why not try a D.I.Y. kit and if you want to try a kit what better place to buy one than a company that has always lead the field in carbon fibre fishing pole repairs?”
What’s included?
1m x 150mm top quality carbon fibre cloth
1k 90gsm (this means it is thin, lightweight, not bulky and obtrusive, yet strong and has a nice tightly woven pattern).
150g Resin and 50g Hardner
Throughout testing many different resins this was the best available for this type of carbon fibre application. Gives a strong hard wearing glossy finish. (a cheap resin will not be up to the job).
10m roll of Surface finishing tape
This is the exact tape we use in day to day repairs ourselves. It is not a ‘shrink tape’ as supplied with other kits. A surface finishing tape leaves a glossy, ‘lacquered’ look to the finished repair, reducing the need for extensive sanding and lacquering. When wound over the repair as directed, under slight tension, there is no need for a shrink tape as the tension applied will create the ‘shrink’ needed. Also, after researching the many ‘shrink tapes’ available, we found that a certain (normally very high) temperature is needed to activate the shrinkage and that temperature needs to be held constant for a certain time period. We felt this couldn’t be achieved at home with a hairdryer of heat gun.
Mixing cup and mixing stick
For mixing the resin and hardener.
Latex gloves high quality
Not cheap vinyl that tear easily.
Small brush and spreader
For application of resin mixture.
See the video below for how it works…
