Rob Allen composite reel specs

[Bill McIntyre]

I've been reading about them, but had never seen one before today. Robin Cadiz got his new reel in the mail and brought it over to fill it with the Q-Power 600 pound Spectra kite line, so I got to see what it looks like. I know there are other threads on the reel, but since I have some specs on it, I thought I'd start a new one in case anyone was tired of looking for information in the old ones.

We got 196 feet of line on it, which is all anyone should need. You can see that its pretty full, but it wasn't mounted on a gun so it was hard to wind it very tight. He can always remove some later.

The bare reel weighed 3 3/4 oz, and the mount that attaches to the gun weighed 1/4 oz.

With the line on it, the entire thing weighed 8 1/4 oz, but I'm not sure how meaningful that is since the line is probably pretty close to neutral in the water.

I'm no engineer, but the design looks very simple and good. The stainless reels have a pin going through the axle that fits into a slot in the nylon bushing, and its a slight pain in the ass when assembling it. This one had a flat spot on the side of the axle, and a matching flat spot on the bushing. The drag nut has stainless threads on the inside, and they thread onto the threaded axle.

The line guide has a stainless inside surface to prevent wear.

The reel snaps pretty firmly into the mount that screws to the gun, and of course the mount has a curved surface to fit on the round barrel of a Euro gun. But if I mount one on the flat bottom surface of a wood gun, I think I'll just skip the mount. Daryl Wong has mounted a few, and he said he just grinds off those protrusions that slide onto the mount to make a flat surface, and then attaches it to the gun with inserts and machine screws.

Of course I haven't seen it tested in action, but it looks to me like a great reel.

PS: I know some of you always use a float line. Don't bother to tell me again.

[Daryl Wong]

Hi Bill,

For those that want to see a RA reel on a gun with inserts, here are a few pictures.

Aloha,Daryl

[beamjoel]

Bill, Thanks for the breakdown of the RA comp. reel. It sounds like quality piece of equipmnet, but I want to hear the details soon, with the water calm now and hopefully warming up more soon, it should be time to test in on some WSB.

The reel looks great, but whats with that gun Daryl? I mean that one is so pretty I would have a hard time actually getting it wet!! Another nice job.


Good luck,


Joel

[strangelove]

Bill

What is the the line thickness that you use , is it 2 mm ?

Thank for the information you are always so good describing stuff !

[Daryl Wong]

Aloha Strangelove,

The reel on the Rob allen is a special coated dyneema made for diving by Q power line. It is 1.8 mm. 600 lb. There is a small twist in the inner core to help prevent kinks and also give just a wee bit of give.
For those divers that want to use a thicker line, I am starting to do a backing of smaller diameter and less tensile strength. This is so that the top shot of line is the thickness that is needed and if it gets down to the core, there is a backing of line that is smaller but enough to keep the diver on the surface. So now you don't have to have a mega reel to get the 200ft plus line that some divers insist on.
Stand up tuna fisherman do this all the time now with spectra line under a thicker mono main line. The ironic part is that it is usually the backing that is a stronger line vs our dive reels which will have a lower strength on the backing.

Aloha,Daryl

[DeepSeaSki]

Daryl, I have some questions. I recently purchased some Spectra line from Riffe to re-rig my power bands. The reason being that the metal wishbone, the gun came with stock, got bent when I was reloading trying to land a nice grouper. The gun I'm using is a 75cm Immersion. My dive buddy Berty said I should have gotten Dynema line instead of Spectra. What are the spec differences, in regards to strength under dynamic load, between the two types of line? Also, what are the total lbs the two lines can take independently? Also, what is the price difference per foot? If you can suggest some website's of manufacturers or a place where I can get started with some comparisson research I would appreciate it.
Thank you,
DeepSeaSki

[Bill McIntyre]

Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia on the two lines.

Dyneema is a registered trademark of Royal DSM N.V. (The Netherlands). Dyneema was invented by DSM in 1979. It has been in commercial production since 1990 at a plant in Heerlen, the Netherlands. In the Far East, DSM has a cooperation agreement with Toyobo Co. for commercial production in Japan. In the United States, DSM has a production facility in Greenville, North Carolina, which is the largest production facility in the United States for UHMWPE fiber.[3]
Honeywell developed a product identical in chemical structure, which is sold under the brand name Spectra. Though the production details are somewhat different, the resulting materials are comparable in properties.

In other words, there is no significant difference in the materials. Differences come from how they are woven or jacketed.


I've been using Spectraspeed to make my wishbones for years. It has a Spectra core and a dacron sheath. I use 3 mm, but I have shark fins on my shafts. For shafts with grooves, I guess you need to use a thinner size.

There are many sources, but I get mine from Masahiro Mori morifish@aol.com. He sells 2 mm Spectraspeed for 20 cents/foot and 2.5 and 3 mm for 30 cents per foot. I've never ordered a small quantity for wishbones, but since I use this stuff on reels, I always have some extra laying around.

[strangelove]

Bill

I just got my reel on the mail last week, it is really good, like every thing else from RA high quality and well made.

[Bill McIntyre]

Originally Posted by strangelove

Bill

I just got my reel on the mail last week, it is really good, like every thing else from RA high quality and well made.

Another friend of mine just got one and brought it over to spool with line. He is very concerned that the slightest turn of the drag knob takes it from a tight drag to free spool. He hasn't had it in the water yet, but he is concerned that it might backlash and cause the gun to be ripped out of his hands. I ran down the street like a very fat white sea bass and did manage to backlash it, but of course we weren't in the water.

I checked my two RA stainless reels, and they were pretty much the same way and I haven't backlashed one yet.

But I guess I should warn you to be careful when loosening the drag.

[strangelove]

Bill

The locking system looks to be the same as the SS reel, I did not have a problem with that one. But your friend does not need to worry about getting the gun rip off his hand. I've once shoot a 200 lb sting ray, the beast took off like a lighting, the cheap reel I was using did not hold, it broke and tangle on the muzzle, I was drag down to the bottom but the gun stayed in my hand all the time !

After that I never lock my reels also, I try not to use any rings to thread the line from the reel.

I am replacing the new sporasub reel with this one, not that the sporasub/mares reel is a bad reel, I just never got used to the position on the spool control (on the top).

[Bill McIntyre]

Originally Posted by strangelove

Bill

The locking system looks to be the same as the SS reel, I did not have a problem with that one. But your friend does not need to worry about getting the gun rip off his hand. I've once shoot a 200 lb sting ray, the beast took off like a lighting, the cheap reel I was using did not hold, it broke and tangle on the muzzle, I was drag down to the bottom but the gun stayed in my hand all the time !

Well OK, but how did you breath on the bottom? There are definitely a lot of times that I would have been forced to turn loose of the gun if the reel had jammed.

About month ago the same guy had an Omer 100 reel torn off of his gun. He didn't lose the gun, but it was still very expensive with the loss of a slip tip, shaft, and of course the reel. He is sensitive about doing that again.

[strangelove]

Originally Posted by Bill McIntyre

Well OK, but how did you breath on the bottom? There are definitely a lot of times that I would have been forced to turn loose of the gun if the reel had jammed.

About month ago the same guy had an Omer 100 reel torn off of his gun. He didn't lose the gun, but it was still very expensive with the loss of a slip tip, shaft, and of course the reel. He is sensitive about doing that again.

Well
I did not breath on the bottom (I was free diving), but I've got lucky, the ray went to the shallow instead of going deep, so I've held the gun for as long as I could, then went back for some air, I was diving with a friend, he took a second shot to fishing off the job. Bad move good lesson, serves me right. Now my reel is always on free spool.

[DeepSeaSki]

Thank you.
DeepSeaSki

[beamjoel]

bill,

You are truly a good friend, I keep trying to get my dive partner to act like a big fat WSB but he wont comply!!!!!

by the way Daryl is shipping my 55" CF Hybrid semi enclosed track this Friday!!!!!! WOW I cant wait. I had him install the inserts for a RA composite which I am ordering today!! Thanks for the advice.

I also have the RA SS and have never had any issues with backlash, but it is something to be thinking about.

I cant wait to break it in!!

good luck

Joel