DIY Fly Rod Tubes:
I am a big fan of Temple Fork Outfitters fly rods but for whatever reason they choose to sell their fly rods without a rod tube. So I have a couple fly rods that share the few store bought tubes that I purchased to protect them. Digging around in the garage the other day I came across a scrapped inch and half piece of PVC and since we are on a bit of a budget, I decided to build my own fly rod tube. My goal was to make a tube that would protect the rod in storage and on the way to and from the creek.
I made a run to the local hardware store and sorted through their limited selection of PVC paraphernalia to find:
1 1/2 inch open female threaded endcap
1 1/2 inch male threaded plug
1 1/2 inch cap
The fit was fairly snug so I skipped the glue which seemed like overkill. After poking around in the garage some more, I came across my wife’s stash of spray paint that she uses on all of her craft projects. She was not home so I helped myself to a can to give the rod tube a little class.
At the end of the day, I spent a little under 3 dollars for the extra pieces of PVC fittings and was able to put together a nice protective fly rod tube which is a much easier justify to the wife than another $30 rod tube. It certainly will not win any beauty pageants, but it will get the job done. A couple of stickers and I am ready to head to the creeks…
A couple of things to note:
1. The inch and a half PVC barely was able to fit my 3 weight in the rod sock. If you are looking to house a bigger fly rod, you may want to look at 2″ PVC.
2. I also added some foam padding in the end caps of both ends just to soften the blow when (not if) I accidentally drop the rod tube.
Great tip, Ben. I’ve built a handful of these and they are bombproof protection for you fly rods.
Right on. Thanks Mike.
Ben
cut an arizona wanderings stencil to paint on yer tubes…an advantage to a pvc tube is that it looks like a throwaway unlike yer $30 aluminum tube that looks like it must hold something of value…you could almost leave a pvc tube in the bed of yer truck overnight and not worry about it.
almost.
That’s a great idea about the stencil. Lucky me, my wife is all kinds of crafty. I’ll get her right on that.
Ben
Ben, have used PVC tubes for some time. Nice work on this one. Those of us who live on tight senior citizen budgets approve this message!
Works pretty good for a teacher’s budget too. Thanks Mel.
Ben
Nice tip Ben! I think this has motivated me. I’m going to go to Ace and see if I can’t get the necessary items to make a rod tube for my BVK. Then I won;t have to keep stealing the old hard cardboard tube from my old bamboo fly rod.
Very cool Colton. I really like my BVK. What size do you have it in?
Ben
9′ 5wt. Fished the Juan with it. Been meaning to get it a dedicated tube.
I’ve been using pvc for quite a few years to ship rods around the country. I’d never thought about painting them and putting on stickers…good idea. Thanks Ben.
Thanks for the kind words Howard.
Ben
Ben,
Looks great, I use a tube like that for topo maps that I don’t want to crease or that are laminated. Another benefit us that they are basically waterproof.
Did you scuff up the tube prior to paint? I know spray paint will sometimes disagree with plastic if it isn’t prepped first. Another option, if you want to get really fancy, is a paint from Krylon specifically for plastics.
Very timely post for me, thanks for putting this together. Great looking tube. I’m building mine this week.
Very cool Kyle. It’s fun to build them and gives you a reason to go buy more rods…
Ben
This is the way to go.
To decrease the weight I have been using central vacum tubing PVC pipes and fittings for my rod tubes.
Also, you can attach a ball chain to the cap to prevent loss.