plastic kolstrand overhaul

groundhog

2008-10-13 02:47:16

After hunting around for some hand gurdys since spring, I finally scored two sets from two different people in two days. Funny how that works.

One set is worn out, and the other set is worse. These are the black nylon cheapies. A fisherman in Gustavus gave me the first two. When I took them to my machinist to have some parts made, he felt sorry for me and gave me the other two from his junk pile.

After combining the best parts and fabricating a few things,I now have two decent ones and a backup.

What type of grease should be used on the spool shaft? Also, two of the gurdys had old petrified grease on the brass brake disk. The other two were dry. Which way is correct?

groundhog

2008-10-14 02:05:09

Thanks, Salty. Food grade grease it is.

In fact, I'm going to hot tank all the gurdy parts to remove any old grease deposits in the nooks and crannys. Then I'll run them through the dishwasher when the wife isn't looking.

That should get all the old crud & smell off before I apply the food-grade grease.

I wonder if salmon mind the smell of the food-grade grease as much as the regular stuff? It should come herring scented.

I totally agree with you on laying out a troller so that it's easy on the fish and the fisherman. I plan on using davits like the ones Yak posted about. My boat is 24', aluminum, and too narrow. It's off to the shop next month to have the sides cut off & the bottom widened 2'. Then I have to lay out the placement of the davits, boxes and such and try my best to get it right the first time.

yak2you2

2008-10-14 03:49:17

If you have not found out yet, you will, that the little bolt that holds your break handle on to the gurdies your describing will back out and let the break handle fall off, usually over the side. It happens to every single one with the factory set up. You'll have to see your local machinist and get him to build you a better set up. Most guys around here drill and tap in three bold holes, then have a small round disk with three holes that line up, welded onto a break handle.

Another spot to watch, the removeable hand crank is designed to catch in one of three little sockets on the side of your gurdie. There will be 3 plastic points in between each of these sockets. As these wear down it will allow your handle to slip out of the socket, which can cause some real problems for you. If the points get worn down, they will need to be replaced.

IntegrityMachining

2008-10-14 22:25:18

If you are looking for replacement parts you can give us a call and we maybe able to help you out.

We are Integrity Machining we just purchased the Kolstrand name and Molds.

If I get a good feel for what is needed we will make a run of parts to have on hand.

Integrity Machining

makers of

Kolstrand Products

Give us a call if you need some help.

Justin or Kal

206-288-3596

steffco

2008-10-22 00:09:07

Back on subject I just grease the shafts. If I grease the break disks or acuator hub it makes it too hard to get the right adjustment for one handed operatons that will allow the brake to come off when I start to crank and will set if slowly backpeddle the handle.

I enjoyed ALL the post in this thread. Keep up the thick skin you earned it!

groundhog

2008-10-23 02:36:30

Well, I performed the "recall" on the brake handle. As Yak2you2 suggested.

Instead of welding a washer onto the old handle, I made a new one-piece handle out of aluminum that spans all three bolt holes on the brake nut.

To get the new handle to fit properly, The brake nut had to be machined down until the three handle slots were gone. It turned out real good.

I could see big gouges on the original parts where the handle had come loose numerous times on the previous owners. I bet that pissed them off.

yak2you2

2008-10-23 09:01:53

Groundhog, you have exactly described the correct cure for the break handle issue, unfortunately I've not ever heard of a cure for the crank handle jumping out of it's socket when it gets worn down, and it does a lot more than piss people off. It can be dangerous. Once the crank slips, your whole spead is on it's way to the bottom. The break would of course shut it down, but it usually happens so fast that panic takes over. I used them for a few years, and I loved being able to disengage the crank and control the spool by hand for setting back out, it made it way easier than having the solid crank spinning while setting out as it is with my pacific kings, but I just couldn't handle the unreliability. But before I beat up Kolstrand to much, The absolute Cadillac of hand cranking has got to be Kolstrand's 2 to 1 reduction gurdy. All metal fabricated, able to engage or disengage, and then there's the reduction factor. I tried a set and I fell in love. I've been hunting for an affordable set ever since.

If it gets to being an issue for you, I suppose you could always monster garage a way of rigging your crank handle solid. Good luck.

groundhog

2008-10-24 02:52:24

If anyone out there in trollerland needs their brake handles fixed, they can send them to me. Throw some old fishing gear in for trade and we'll have a deal.

I'm trying to put together a complete outfit without attracting too much (negative) attention from the wife, so bartering is a good way to go.

Yak, how do you avoid getting beat up by the fixed handles on you Pacific Kings? I haven't tried these Kolstrands out yet, so I don't know if they have the handle

problem you're talking about. Two of the handles are fairly fresh looking. Hopefully they will get me by for a couple of seasons.

herring rigger

2008-10-27 00:20:16

I think I have at least 3 sets of plastic kolstrands, two sets of pacific kings and on or two sets of the spendy two speeds if any one is interested. I think I'm done and I've had it with hand trolling. To much shoulder pain dragging 40 or 50 fathoms. Rumor has it there's talk about a bunch of guys trying to get the

state to reclassifie the hand troll to a two line power. Makes sense to me with the chum and winter fishery, but I'm not waiting no more cranking for me!!!!!