Hey Fellas-
I’ve been meaning to do this for a while since I replaced my Lexa100HS with an Abu Inshore NACL series reel, and tonight *insert drum roll* was the night. Yep, after taking it out every weekend since the beginning of December 2014 I’ve been secretly dreading opening her up all the way and having a look to see how she’s handled life on my kayak.
Let me just say I did pre-service the reel before taking her out, and I have rinsed, oiled and maintained her like the ocd freak I am (well as far as fishing reels go at least ;-)
First up- a general view of the exterior shape: A few minor scuffs and some kayak rash on the underside, but all in all, looking good. The coating they used on this reel sure does work- and the carbon side plates are sparkly and unpitted by the salt. Goood!
Next, I took off the side cover that exposes the spool. I’ve taken this off pretty much every second outing to give it a look over, but there has been virtually no water intrusion. The tolerances are unbelievable. The bearings are smooth as silk and the spool itself ,along with the brake unit are perfect.
Off comes the reel handle to expose the drag stack. Each piece removed has no salt intrusion whasoever, the grease is as new and oils are clear- I’m really impressed so far!
I took apart the end nobs of the eva handles. BTW these are the best knobs I’ve ever felt (waa haa) no seriously - using eva was a stroke of genius from the team at ABU. They (ahem) fill the hand nicely and don’t pop out of wet hands when a quick retrieve is needed. The insides had no iwater intrusiion at all, so added a light film of grease and sealed them up again.
ok- the moment of truth has arrived. After removing all four (yes, FOUR screws! holding the main gearhouse plate I had a look inside... and as you can see- only the slightest bit of saltwater entry! One at the long cross screw that retains the left hand reel plate, one at the drain hole and some in the drag stack. Hmm- not too happy about that.
After removing all the elements to the drag stack I discovered one of the plates had started to rust slightly. Bugger. After unsuccessfully trying to remove it with metal polish I resorted to 1200 grit water paper which cleaned it up well enough BUT it had pitted the surface. Initially I had left the drag stack dry as Abu supplied it , but now after seeing this (and having read further that you can have a wet stack) I applied some CALS to the washers and rebuilt it. The “corrosion” you can see deep in the main gear was really just the brass discoloring after the graphite had stained it when under pressure. So with that out the way, I applied my Penn marine grease and lube to the other bits and pieces and started the rebuild.
In closing: I AM impressed! I was skeptical at buying a non Swedish reel admittedly, and after the horrible fit and componentry on the Lexa 100HS (Korean Made) I was pretty jaded. But after countless outings of flawless, smooth performance I am champing at the bit to buy her big brother- the Toro NACL 50!