Horrocks-Ibbotson "The Maritime"

History of the HI Rod Co. Feel free to discuss HI Rods here.

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bod13
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Joined: 09/15/20 09:28

Horrocks-Ibbotson "The Maritime"

#1

Post by bod13 »

Hi, I'm brand new to the bamboo fly rod world!

I picked up a couple of old H-I "The Maritime" 12' bamboo spey rods locally. I couldn't say no for $30! The guy said he picked them up at a garage sale years ago and just never got around to restoring them. I might have a go at stripping them down and refinishing the varnish and all the guides as most of them have rusted. One of them is in pretty decent shape with only a minor set in the tip section, so I think I'll start with that one. The other one has a lot of corrosion on the reel seat and ferrules and the tip section has a crack. I've already repaired the tip section with Gorilla glue so I'll have two tips at least. I think I'll try and clean up the real seat and ferrules a bit and sand the cork down to see if it's salvageable. If the cork is too dry, I might just replace the whole lot. From what I gather, these were made around the early 40's. They are definitely very noodly when giving them a waggle! I'm not expecting much from them as I believe the H-I stuff was more of a low cost/mass produced rod. If they don't work out they'll be great wall hangers for the basement! Probably a good starting point to get into working with bamboo as well. I've been wanting to build a small single hand creek rod for a while now. Does anyone have any further history or know anything about these rods (or better yet fished one!)?
Thanks
Barry

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