Vintage Penn Reel Upgrade

onekerf

Gold Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2008
Messages
877
Picked up this old Penn Squidder 146 Reel a while back. Replaced the side plates' crossbars with a Tiburon one-piece narrow frame, replaced original plastic spool with an aluminum narrow spool, and replaced the torpedoe handle knob with a polished aluminum disc to aid my slightly arthritic grip. A little Penn Blue grease, some oil, and a fresh load of Stren High Impact, Smoke Blue, 20# Mono; we're ready for some Bay, Beach, Pier, and Sea Saltiness (still need to upgrade drag washers). Birds may feel free to observe my ability to construct nests with fishing line.20190426_145723.jpg
 
Nice job!
Did you know that you can mag aluminum spool reels?
Lots of how to's at surf talk.
That is if you want to cast it....

Either way nice work on an old soldier.
 
Thanks Ebbtide,

Yeah, I'm gonna try to balance the freespool tension and "educate" my thumb before I commit to drilling and magging the side plate. I have another Squidder in the 140 size that I might try magging. I seem to remember reading on the surf forums that magging worked on the plastic spools also; something about a magnetic field created by the spinning of the spool?
 
IIRC you don't have to drill it, just glue the magnets in the side plate.... I think.
Personally, I'd use it as an excuse to buy a new reel :)
Here's my Penn Surfmaster that I got in 1968 or '69

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Nice Surfmaster!

Now that you mention it, I do remember reel modifiers gluing magnets inside the side plate. I think some were drilling the plate to install a threaded set-up with a knob that allowed you to adjust the distance of the magnet from the spool, thus the strength of it's effect on the spool.
 
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