To view part one of this article click here.
In my last post about my dad’s old Penn Squidder I wrote about the damage done to the reel being outside for years. I spent a good few weeks going online to see how to refurbish the reel. I know it would have been easier to just replace it with one from eBay or another vendor (I found a few new ones even though they are discontinued), but this one had so many memories of my dad that I could not leave it in the condition it was in. I finally found how to posts by Alan Tani on many of the fishing boards and after reading through his great how to articles, I decided to contact him to see how much it would be to repair the reel.
Alan was great, emailing me right back and asking me to send the reel up to him in Northern California, at the time he only charged $20 to go through the reel to see what type of damage it had and to give a diagnosis (contact him for his pricing now). He was confident he could repair it, it may not look good due to the oxidation damage, but he said he would put it in an ultrasonic cleaner for a week and see what he could do.
Now, there was a lot of damage to the reel. The body, chrome, plastic and spool all had surface damage from oxidation. It had pitted the chrome and reel all over. It also did not lock into gear anymore, and while the Penn’s should be easy to open, I could not get it to release to see the damage on the inside. I emailed him the list of damage and sent off the reel to him. Now you may ask, just send a reel off to someone you don’t know? We’ll he came highly recommended, and sometime you just know things will work out perfect. Which they did.
Alan got back to me right away. The reel needed all new washers and bearings (which I guessed) and he was able to clean it up some in the ultrasonic machine. Below is the breakdown $93 total. I could have bought a used one, but like I said before it was worth every penny. I also added a larger custom handle (I have big hands) and a stainless steel drive shaft so that added to the cost. If I had just done no upgrades it would have been around $50 to repair.
$23 for the grip
$20 for the drive shaft
$20 for going through the reel
$5 for the drag washers
$20 for the bearings
$5 for shipping
I also got a big suprise, Alan threw in a Tiburon P16 frame with screw mounts for free. This was a very nice addition, and Alan did not have to do it. Thanks again! He was able to make it look nice again, and everything worked, except for a bid of a rub on the spool. You can kinda feel it when using the reel, and Alan emailed that he tried to find the issue but could not find the reason for it. It was more than I expected, and I am very grateful to him for bringing back the reel from the dead.
So, here is the repaired reel
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| From Dad’s Penn Squidder 146 Refurbished |
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| From Dad’s Penn Squidder 146 Refurbished |
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| From Dad’s Penn Squidder 146 Refurbished |
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| From Dad’s Penn Squidder 146 Refurbished |
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| From Dad’s Penn Squidder 146 Refurbished |
In this photo you can see the pitting damage from the oxidation
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| From Dad’s Penn Squidder 146 Refurbished |
Here is the size comparison for the new handle. I got another smaller handle from Alan as well, see the difference from my stock Squidder 140 (which I just got brand new off eBay).
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| From Dad’s Penn Squidder 146 Refurbished |
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| From Dad’s Penn Squidder 146 Refurbished |
Here are some of the damage photos and new for comparison
BEFORE
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| From Dad’s Penn Squidder |
AFTER
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| From Dad’s Penn Squidder 146 Refurbished |
BEFORE
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| From Dad’s Penn Squidder |
AFTER
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| From Dad’s Penn Squidder 146 Refurbished |
BEFORE
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| From Dad’s Penn Squidder |
AFTER
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| From Dad’s Penn Squidder 146 Refurbished |
I got to use it for the first time early this past summer on a great trip we had off Laguna Beach. It performed well except for the bit of rubbing, and I like the smaller handle that Alan had sent. First fish was a just short Calico Bass and a short barracuda. Ended up moving over to my new Newell S229-5 Reel which I had purchased to replace the Squidder and has become my everyday reel. I handed the 146 off to my friend Deepak who did not have a rod. It worked out great for him the rest of the day.
First fish on the refurbished reel
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| From 19th Trip: Huge Day Off Laguna Beach |
The 146 taking a rest on the boat
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| From 19th Trip: Huge Day Off Laguna Beach |
My new Newell S229-5
Once again I can’t say enough good things about Alan, and I do not hesitate to send other anglers his way. While I don’t use the 146 as my everyday reel, it does come with me on every trip in my bag and is my backup along with my Penn Jigmaster 500S. If you would like more information about Alan Tani visit his web site at http://alantani.com/.
