Make your own Multi-Fly Rod Storage Tube

Multi fly rod storage tube - PVC 110mm (Loads of pics on this page...allow a minute or so to load)

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 Sometimes when travelling, especially to a remote destination, you take along quite a few fly rods. Myself, for example, will take at least four 5wt fly rods when visiting a trout stillwater for a couple of days. The schlep to lug around 4 tubes can be solved by making one tube, which can store all four rods (or even five). These tubes will not win any beauty contests, but they are as hardy as anything out there, and at a fraction of the cost…and for travel they will ensure your rods are well protected.

Here’s a step-by-step to make a cheap, sturdy, large diameter fly rod storage tube, from 110mm PVC tubing. (Suitable to house five fly rods, 9 foot, 4-piece models)

 

 

STEP 1:
Make sure you have the correct materials…tube, stopend, access stopend, all 110mm. You get two types…underground (white) and above ground (cream/yellow colour). The above ground types are cheaper, but will work just as good.

 STEP 2:
Measure the tube, and mark it. In this case, I was making a tube suitable to house 4 piece, 9 foot fly rods. So the measurement of 76.5cm was used.

 STEP 3:
To make sure you cut straight(ish), put some masking tape around the pipe. You will use the one edge as a guide to cut against. This way you can keep track of the blade, and make sure you don’t go too skew. It doesn’t have to be 100%, as the stopend will cover it anyway.

 STEP 4:
Here the tube is cut. Use some sandpaper (100 to 200 grit is fine) to smooth the edges a bit and get rid of all the points caused by cutting.

 STEP 5:
Now take your 110mm PVC tube, and mark a round circle on your 10mm foam and cut it out. (Here I used foam that was a lot thicker…because it’s all I had. I just cut it thinner with a bread knife afterwards, to about 1cm thick).

 STEP 6:
Now put Bostik Clear glue on the inside of your 110mm pipe, close to the edge. For better adhesion, scour the inside of the tube with sandpaper, to rough up the surface.

 STEP 7:
Now carefully insert your foam piece. Let about 2mm stick out.

 STEP 8:
Apply Bostik Clear liberally to the outside of the foam.

 STEP 9:
Take your female stopend, and apply PVC Weld glue liberally to the inside of the sidewall.

 STEP 10:
Now place the stopend onto the tube, twisting it around the pipe as you put it on…this ensures the glue spreads nicely and you then have good adhesion.

 STEP 11:
Stand the tube upright, with the stopend on the ground. Use a fly rod tube, and push it down into the PVC pipe, and press the foam down firmly onto the stopend. This way you ensure the glue between the foam and the stopend takes hold firmly.

 STEP 12:
Here you can see the foam at the bottom of the tube. This foam protects your fly rod ends when you drop them into the tube.

 STEP 13:
Now, take your female stopend from the Access screw-top kit, and lay it on some thin foam, neoprene, or fly foam (this neoprene was donated courtesy of an old Snowbee neoprene wader). Mark the inside with a permanent marker.

 STEP 14:
Here’s the neoprene marked, and ready to be cut. When you now cut, make sure you cut on th inside, about 5mm from the line. So your end-piece will eb smaller than the actual circle drawn. You will see why just now.

 STEP 15:
Before you glue the foam now, scuff the inside of the plug with sandpaper, to ensure good adhesion.
Now apply some Bostik Clear glue to the one side of the foam piece, and glue it onto the inside of the screw-plug. Make sure you centre it nicely. The reason the foam is smaller than the plug, is because the female stopper of this kit scews onto the plug, and bottoms out on the inside of the plug. You don’t want the screw-thread to bottom out onto the foam.

 STEP 16:
Here’s the female stopend, and the plug, assembled. You can see why we cut the foam piece a little smaller than the cap’s inside diameter.

 STEP 17:
Put the cap and foam piece on a firm surface, and put some weight on the foam, until it dries properly. I put two tins of varnish on it. Leave it overnight to dry properly.

 STEP 18:
Scuff the inside of the female access stop-end, with sandpaper.

 STEP 19:
Also scuff the outside of the other end of your PVC pipe. These steps will ensure good adhesion of the glue, between the pipe and the female access stop-end.

STEP 20:
Apply PVC Weld glue liberally to the inside of the female access stop-end, where it fits over the PVC pipe.

 STEP 21:
Now put the access stop-end onto PVC pipe…keep twisting it around and around as you put it on. This ensures the glue is spread nicely. Keep going until it’s completely on, and then wipe off any excess glue on the inside.

 STEP 22:
Here’s your completed tube. Leave it overnight to dry properly.

 As seen here, you can easily store up to five fly rods in this tube. This tube has 4 x 9ft, 4pce 5wt fly rods in, as well as a 9ft, 4pce 9wt fly rod.
The foam on the bottom, and the foam in the cap, protects the ends of the fly rods if they move around in the tube during transit.

 Your completed tube:

 You can now spray-paint it any colour you like (just remember to sand the pipe down to ensure the paint adheres properly, and use a few coats of primer), or cover it with material, a neoprene sock, etc. Add a carry strap if you like, as well. Added bonus, this tube will float if it falls off your ark or boat., and is pretty water-tight.