Dropped a reel in sand! What to do?

[Mike89]

Hi guys - wishing for some advice here on cleaning my Shimano Sahara 3000FE after an unfortunate incident a couple of nights ago involving sand.

The rod/reel blew over in the wind and the reel copped a good coating of sand on the spool, drag lock, and underside. After cleaning off the top side I noticed the handle wouldn't turn and soon discovered that sand had penetrated the gap between the spool and the bail section.

I rinsed it out pretty thoroughly until the handle could turn smoothly with no grit clunking up the rotation and went to bait the hook when it blew over again and took another caking of sand.

I repeated the rinse making sure I couldn't see any sand on the spool, bail arm or roller bearing and continued to use it. It felt okay but I'm unsure if it's completely free of sand now and if this will cause rust or gear problems down the track.

When I got home I gave it a pretty intensive rinse with some detergent - my mate suggested that the bubbles from the soap would help to work out any remaining grains of sand.

Will my reel have a shortened life now? What can I do to make sure that my reel won't have any issues later on?

Should I just take it to be serviced or am I worrying too much?

Many thanks in advance!

Edited October 21, 2015 by Mike89

[rockfisherman]

Get an alvey reel.

If there's no crunching and grinding I wouldn't worry about it.

[Mike89]

You wouldn't miss a chance to plug the old Alvey would you!

I'm actually planning on getting one for the beach for whiting, bream and flathead. Maybe something that can handle salmon and tailor too. I'd like one with a metal casing and a drag system. Any recommendations?

Should I fork out for a good Snyderglass rod or go for a cheaper Alvey rod to match it?

Cheers

[Crossfire63]

Mike

If you strip the reel down and give it a clean and make sure you remove all the sand with an old small paint brush it will be fine. Its unlikely that sand found its way into the gear box.

Rinsing with detergent is possibly one of the worst things you can do. Detergent dissolves grease and oil. Your reel has a oiled felt drag and if the detergent has got into there it could displace the oil.

As for the Alvey rod question, buy a Snyderglas or if you can afford it and buy a Wilson Livefibre

[stevefish]

If it feels right leave it alone.

Opening all those well sealed parts and mucking around with intricate mechanisms is overrated.

By shimano or daiwa and give it a rinse every now and then, maintenance over.

Beaches may test these procedures but.

[Mike89]

Mike

If you strip the reel down and give it a clean and make sure you remove all the sand with an old small paint brush it will be fine. Its unlikely that sand found its way into the gear box.

Rinsing with detergent is possibly one of the worst things you can do. Detergent dissolves grease and oil. Your reel has a oiled felt drag and if the detergent has got into there it could displace the oil.

As for the Alvey rod question, buy a Snyderglas or if you can afford it and buy a Wilson Livefibre

Thanks for the advice. How will I know if I've done any damage with the detergent? I did use a fair bit of the stuff.. I knew I should have checked before taking a tip from my mate!

Cheers

[Mike89]

I might just leave it for now and give it a service soon so that all the parts can be cleaned..

BUT now I'm worried about what I've done with the detergent.

Can I just reoil the drag myself or is it more complex than that?

Thanks

[Crossfire63]

Take the drag apart. Thats pretty easy its only a spring clip that holds the washers in.

Take note of the order in which the washers come out. Dry the felt washers on a paper towel or towel.

Re oil drag washers with reel oil and re assemble

[quochuy]

If you haven't turned the handle while washing with detergent chances are you'll be fine but as above re-oil the washer and what ever is under the spool.

If detergent made its way inside the gearbox then at worse it will make the gear stick and a full service would solve it. Worse stuff is saltwater getting inside. I just fully serviced an old shimano aerlex 800p surf reel that I left for nearly two years in the garage. It was full of sand and salt went inside but after a full service it is now working good despite having rusty bits that I cleaned as much as I could.

Re-oiling the drag is easy. Full servicing requires care and attention and if not sure you better have it done by a pro.

As for alvey I have an old alvey reel bought second hand on an alvey rod. They all work great and caught plenty of fish including sharks from the beach. Even the cheap alvey combo would do well.

Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk

[Mike89]

Great, much obliged for your assistance Q and Crossfire.

I'll reoil the drag and see how I go.

Might turn it in for a full service down the track just to be safe.

Nice one on touching up the old reel. Seems that you get a pretty damn good life out of them if you take care of them well..

Which reminds me to take better care of my stuff.

Thanks again guys! Fishraider to the rescue!

Edited October 22, 2015 by Mike89

[rockfisherman]

You wouldn't miss a chance to plug the old Alvey would you!

I'm actually planning on getting one for the beach for whiting, bream and flathead. Maybe something that can handle salmon and tailor too. I'd like one with a metal casing and a drag system. Any recommendations?

Should I fork out for a good Snyderglass rod or go for a cheaper Alvey rod to match it?

Cheers

Fun! Alvey recommendations!

Before I go on I will say alveys take getting used to, but once you've got it sorted you will love it.

Starting with a drag reel is a good idea, the 6000 bcv or 600 bcxl is a good place to start, about $140 there, and the premium alvey rods are fantastic for the money, alvey rod BJA 4-6kg $90 and some platypus lo stretch in 6kg $15, delivery $20... $265 total for some thing that will last for ages.

Just to add, most of the steel backed ones are direct wind with no drag, nothing wrong with the graphite back. Just as tough and lighter

Edited October 22, 2015 by fishingphase

[Witha]

On the detergent and sand front your best bet is a service. Worst case scenario you have sand in or near the engine room and bearings, and the detergent has buggered the oil and grease. DIY is a bit of fun and Sahara aren't that hard to service as they're on the lower end of shimano kit.

If you're not confident honestly shimano charged me 20 bucks for a service on a dunked sustain...could be worth a shot

[Mike89]

Fun! Alvey recommendations!

Before I go on I will say alveys take getting used to, but once you've got it sorted you will love it.

Starting with a drag reel is a good idea, the 6000 bcv or 600 bcxl is a good place to start, about $140 there, and the premium alvey rods are fantastic for the money, alvey rod BJA 4-6kg $90 and some platypus lo stretch in 6kg $15, delivery $20... $265 total for some thing that will last for ages.

Just to add, most of the steel backed ones are direct wind with no drag, nothing wrong with the graphite back. Just as tough and lighter

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm looking at the 6000BCVRRT - this one looks pretty nice. I like the extra features here as compared to the 6000BCV.

I thought those were plastic backings, didn't know they were graphite. In that case I'm not so fussed as long as they are durable.

I've been leaning toward spending more money on rods and reels recently, I started off pretty cheap but am quickly learning that it costs less money to buy something of quality build from the outset instead of replacing stuff every six months. I could go for something a bit pricier than an Alvey premium rod but if it does the job it might be okay.

I'll have to get down to the tackle shop some time this weekend to have a good look at the Alvey stuff up close.

Cheers

[Guest Guest123456789]

I would recommend sending it into shimano to get a service now. Leave it too long and the sand might work its way into your bearings which means extra cost to replace. Shouldn't cost more than $40. I got my reel serviced and it was well worth it.