Rod Preservation During Transport in Vehicle

[islandbass]

We all hear stories of rods snapping on the cast or on the hook set, and we usually assign the blame to rod manufacture defect, which is possible, and some times the case, but what if all that banging around adds up to damaging the rod blank?



Until today, I’d have the two pieces of my 8’6” rod kept together by a strip of Velcro. However, doing this does little to protect the two halves of the blank from banging around against things in the trunk or each other. I suppose it’s the upper half of the rod blank that probably needs to be protected more.

To address this, I placed most of the upper half of the rod in some ½” pipe insulation tubing and the lower part of with ¾” pipe insulation as shown below:

Two strips of Velcro hold the pieces together.


This is a closer look where the two pieces of pipe insulation meet.

I hope that the insulation material will serve to absorb the vibrations and protect the blank from loose objects in the trunk.

So far, as a unit it feels secure and is easy to hold. The upper half doesn’t move much, if at all.

The protection of spinning rigs, which by nature have larger guides, might be a little more limited but it should still work to the extent where the tubing covers the guides.

For one piece rods, I think that placing pieces of the tubing strategically on the blank in areas we know where banging around occurs (like the tip) could be helpful. The tubing could also be kept in place with Velcro.

I think I will keep the insulation material in trunk when I hit the water. I don’t like to carry more than I have to.

What do you guys do, if anything to protect your rods during transport in your vehicle?

Oh yeah...I got the tubing at Home Depot. They come in packs of 4 for $0.98. In my humble opinion that’s a small price to pay to protect our precious gear.

[WaffleJaw]

I havent done much to protect my rods...My Kia Hatchback (thats right!) seats fold down and I can easily lay my rods down and have the tips going between the two front seats..They dont bounce around and have plenty of room...I can transport 6 rods this way.Only grip is they do rub my shoulder while driving....and not in a good way.
Thats is a great idea with the tubing...Ill remember that next time Im at home depot...(which has been pretty often)

[WTL]

I used to have an SUV, so what I did was I bought a few gutter downspouts and installed them in the rear going up the side. I was able to fit most rods besides I think the flipping stick and they were very much protected.

[Baron49]

When I transport my rods I use rod sleeves from BPS or Cabellas. The are only a few bucks and have protectected my rods with or without reels on them for years. When using my own boat I keep the sleeves on the rods while they are stored in my rod locker for the the same protection.