Daunting Repair

[Rockape]

For a while now, my OCD has been nagging at me to look into repairing my late Gladding era Sea Streak multiplier; well, nothing drastic, just a light intermittent ratchet sound when the reel was in silent forward/back wind; it was driving me crazy though, so having serviced and repaired almost every Intrepid model, including repair on a broken truplay component in a Surfcast, I thought I would have the confidence to have a go at it, but a glance over the exploded diagram had me thinking "Erm... maybe not!?"

So, a year or so on, I obtained a nice running reel, but with a small crack in the casing (probably from a drop at some point; barely noticable, but like I said..OCD), so with nothing really to loose, I decided to open it up and see if a parts swap was possible, and to my surprise it was a lot simpler to strip and rebuild than I initially thought (it was mainly working on the Truplay mechanisim that had me worried). I left the reel in silent wind and proceeded to disassemble it.

Once the two gear plate screws were removed, the gear plate assembly could be eased away from the nylon casing (no flying springs!), revealing the Truplay components (the photo of the fitted assembly with the drag washers in view, was taken after the rebuild).

To my delight, the Truplay assy was easy to take apart and rebuild, mainly because the external rotating 3 knob lever, slides over the internal dog (?) post on a keyway, so no getting it wrong.

Anyway the short story is that I swapped and the gearplates and components, plus the Truplay assembly, and now (oddly) both reels are working perfectly.

I suppose I am saying not to be too put off by a complicated exploded diagram, and just to take things slowly and take lots of photos of the procedure along the way. It can be a lot more obvious and straightforward when you see it in the flesh...as it were.

On a side note, it is strange how any black grease seems to permiate the nylon casings over time; not easy (if not impossible) to clean.

[Crucian]

Nicely done
I can remember the sea Streak's (Sea Screech) introduction, in the '60s, anyone who had one was the envy of all of us lads, we were still struggling with Penn Sea boys etc., of dubious antiquity. I can still recall the raucous whine of a Sea Streak as I type this...

[Harry H]

I was going to ask did you find where the cat goes that makes that iconic sound when casting a Sea Streak.

[Rockape]

Thank you for replying Crucian and Harry H.

I can't believe I sat on this for so long before attempting it.
I have stripped, serviced and rebuilt a lot of ABU multipliers, but with this Intrepid, I just envisaged springs and small parts ejecting themselves from the gear plate as I pulled it away from the casing; thankfully not.

Ha! Ha! Yes, I have heard about their reputation for sounding like a screaming banshee, but I have yet to experience this for myself.

At some point I plan to load some line onto the donor reel and give it a blast with a pendulum, though I remember seeing a comment here about someone nearly dropping their rod when first hearing it, so I will try to make sure I am properly prepared for it first.

For many years I thought they were boat reels, until I got the collecting bug and became more aware of their intended purpose, however, my beach rods all have coasters, so I'm not sure if it will work with them?

Cheers.

Paul

[Wallys-Cast]

Paul, nice job. you are now the official TFF Seascreetch repair man. there is no getting away from it now.

Taking pics with a smart phone make these jobs a lot easier than years ago when you had to make little drawings at each stage.

Certain reels do need very careful dismantling or as you say, springs and tiny ball bearings etc will fly off, never to be found again. A little tip here, if its a first time and you are unfamiliar with a certain reel. Start the take down with the reel inside a clear plastic bag, this will usually catch the flying bits.

Wal.

[Jeremy Croxall]

Paul, nice job. you are now the official TFF Seascreetch repair man. there is no getting away from it now.

Taking pics with a smart phone make these jobs a lot easier than years ago when you had to make little drawings at each stage.

Certain reels do need very careful dismantling or as you say, springs and tiny ball bearings etc will fly off, never to be found again. A little tip here, if its a first time and you are unfamiliar with a certain reel. Start the take down with the reel inside a clear plastic bag, this will usually catch the flying bits.

Wal.

What an excellent tip!

[Rockape]

Paul, nice job. you are now the official TFF Seascreetch repair man. there is no getting away from it now.

Taking pics with a smart phone make these jobs a lot easier than years ago when you had to make little drawings at each stage.

Certain reels do need very careful dismantling or as you say, springs and tiny ball bearings etc will fly off, never to be found again. A little tip here, if its a first time and you are unfamiliar with a certain reel. Start the take down with the reel inside a clear plastic bag, this will usually catch the flying bits.

Wal.

Yes, great advice! Thank you!