Washing reels

[Ryan W]

June,

I am a chemist, so I will try to answer your question to the best of my ability.

I think that hot water won't actually expand the salt itself. Hot water does expand things, but salt is not really one of them. If I take the volume of salt at 0 degrees C and 100 degrees C, there isn't much change. It's not like a metal in that respect. If the parts of the reel themselves expand (very possible- most of them are a metal), than they will actually make it harder for salt to get in, because the gaps will close down. I think that there might be merit to this argument at a temperature of like 500 C, but the water has boiled at that point anyways. As far as an actual shower with the reels, don't worry about it. 35 C water vs 10 C water isn't gonna make a difference.

Ryan

[shrimpman steve]

Im not a chemist, but I play one on TV. What he said!

[Ryan W]

This probably isn't my area of expertise. If you wanted to know what ocean he was fishing in based on the salt in the reel, that I could tell you no problem. What washing with hot water will do? I have only limited knowledge there, but can hazard a pretty good guess. Regardless, I still stand by my view that you shouldn't worry about it. Go fishing, and get things like clam guts off the reels or whatever, and maybe wash them if you feel like it or your tackle store guy tells you to. Other than that, go enjoy yourself.

[Fin Reaper]

End of each season I go over the rods and exterior
of the reels with wax (corrosion X makes a good one)
and after each trip they go in the shower with me
which my wife still shakes her head at but hey...it works.

[RussH]

I only take the actual RODS in the shower with me. The reels I remove after each trip. Wet a papertowel down and wipe as clean as I can. I then loosen the drag if appropriate and store back in their box/bag.

I never spray direct water on my reels. That seems silly. But wiping down with a wet rag, that's how my grandfather taught me 23 years ago. So it seems to work okay. Also, most reels are aluminum now anyway, can't really corrode that. It's brass and steel that tarnish/rust respectively.

[joeya78]

I wash my reels and generally get at least 8 years out of most of them. Imagine not washing yourself after getting misted with salt water all day....nasty feeling! I always wash my reels and rods with fresh water and grease them a couple of times a year

[JD in Trenton]

Here's something by Alan Tani on lubes to use. The Yamaha Multi Purpose Grease is made for salt water, will not wash out, and best of all is cheap. I feel that applying it you will prevent water from entering the reel from ocean spray or washing.

[JD in Trenton]

forgot the link http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=50.0

[JD in Trenton]

Here's something by Alan Tani on lubes to use. The Yamaha Multi Purpose Grease is made for salt water, will not wash out, and best of all is cheap. I feel that applying it you will prevent water from entering the reel from ocean spray or washing.

[Captain Ahab]

Penn recommends that you do not ever spray the reel but rather give it a soak in fresh water to get out the salt from both the reel and line. You can do this with the reel on the rod(s) using a cooler filled with fresh water.


Works for me