Rod Storage ideas

[Pete]

I have more rods than places to keep them. I have a ceiling rack in my basement which is the primary storage location for most of my rods which allows me to leave them set up and ready to fish and a barrel where I keep heavy sturgeon rods, fly rods in aluminum tubes and broken rods. I also tend to leave a couple rods leaning up against the work bench in my garage and often leave rods in the rod holder in my boat.

The biggest threat to rods is clearly accidental breakage. The ceiling rack solves that pretty well unless I drop one while the tip is still in the rack. The rods up against the bench are clearly in harm's way as I step across them or lift the lawn mower over them. But the clear threat aside, here's the question ... is a rod going to be hurt by the slight sag in the middle while its in my ceiling rack or leaning up against the bench? Would it be better to have a flat surface to leave them all on that takes all the gravitational stress off? Ok, and the easy one, am I being too concerned for something I might not need to replace for whatever effect this may have?

[CAGEY]

Pete, go down to a carpet store and ask them if you can have some of the cardboard rollers that the carpets come on. They just throw them away. Sometimes a store sells curtains or other materials they have different sizes. They are very sturdy and you can even send them on an aircraft with resonable safety. If you have or know someone who has a band saw or even a jig saw you can cut wood rounds to fit in the ends and then just put a screw in to hold them, They work great. The one draw back is that you have to take the reels off. Old socks are excellent for keeping the reels in. Keeps the dust off. Cagey :smile:

[Captn]

Pete, I am like you with many rods. I did see some damage with the old fiberglass rods and storing them on the wall. With enough heat, they developed a permanent wobble in them. I have been storing my graphites on the walls for the last decade or so, and have not noticed any warpage. But I am careful to try to reduce any stress, so that the pole sets well supported. Any other comments out there?

[Hoosier Daddy]

I'm in the middle of finishing a big drop down bin I built to hang from my garage ceiling. Its hinged at one end and about 9 feet long, so when you drop the free end to the ground its still half upright (does that make ANY sense!). I just haven't gotten around to putting rod holders in it yet. Should keep everything handy and keep the sawdust off them since it's covered on all sides. Just that it turned out a little bigger than I planned just like everything else. So now I have to rig a block and tackle up so I can lift the damned thing. Still think the idea is sound though.