Modifying A Sammy 85

[MOsmallies]

I know this has been covered here several times by Al, but I'm finally wanting to fix mine. I'm tired of having a $15 lure sitting in my tackle box because the action sucks right out of the box. I love the size and profile of the Sammy 85 for the size of water I normally fish, so if I can get it to walk better I'll be thrilled.

I drilled into the Sammy 85 last night and removed the larger of the two ball bearings in the rear chamber. Tonight I'm planning on repairing the hole with clear epoxy, but I've never applied this before and I figured I got one shot. I picked up Gorilla Clear Epoxy from Home Depot and some sand paper to smooth it out once done.

How do I apply the epoxy without it filling the entire chamber and without falling out at the same time. Any tricks or suggestions?

Once this is done, I plan on touching up the belly with white paint and replacing the hooks with Size 4 Mustad KVD trebles. I may use a feathered treble on the rear. Will this kill any action?

Thanks in advance,

Paul

MOsmallies

[rps]

I haven't done this myself, but it has to be like patching a sheet rock wall -> you need a screen or other material to keep the plaster from falling in the wall. A tiny piece of Styrofoam?

[Al Agnew]

Here's how I did it. The epoxy needs to be pretty thick, like a thick syrup. You blob enough of it into the hole to fill it up, doing it pretty quickly so that the epoxy doesn't have enough time to settle away from the hole. Then you cover the hole with a piece of scotch tape, and turn the lure over so that it's lying belly down. Gravity makes sure all the epoxy settles against the tape, filling in the hole. Once it's hardened, just take off the tape and sand it lightly. Or you can time it so that the epoxy is almost hardened...still slightly tacky but no longer soft, and wet your finger and rub it once you take the tape off. The kind of epoxy I use (just 5 minute epoxy from Lowes or Walmart) is slightly water soluble until completely hardened, and you can really smooth it out that way if you time it right.

[MOsmallies]

Thanks RPS and Al..... I'm going to give it a shot tonight. I'll try to post some pics once it's done

[dtrs5kprs]

+1 on the tape and epoxy, but would recommend 60 minute. It is just like using a piece of tape to fix a clear coat scratch on a glass boat. Did it to a rod the other night that had a void open up under a cork ring (guess the cork washed out). Mixed the epoxy, filled the void, put a piece of tape (masking in this case) over it and it formed a nice repair that more or less matches the curve of the handle. Will try to get a pic up.

If you use 5 minute epoxy you may get issues with it yellowing or picking up water. Went through all of that when first learning to paint baits.

[MOsmallies]

Thanks dtrs5kprs... I ended up using a mixture of all of your suggestions. The hole i drilled into the Sammy ended up being oval shaped, so I carved out a small thin piece of styrofoam and fit it snuggly into the hole. I made sure that the remaining ball bearing could still roll back and forth freely. I then applied the 5 minute epoxy and placed a strip of scotch tap over it to mold it to the bait. I checked on it this morning and it appears to be a perfect seal. I'l sand it down tonight and get the belly repainted. I'll then replace the hooks with Mustad KVD trebles (Size 4 or 6) with the tail one being feathered. I've added a quality snap to the line tie and this Sammy should be primed to catch some aggressive summer time smallies!

I'll try to post some pics up as soon as I can.

[dtrs5kprs]

Glad it went well. May try that myself before summer. Have a bunch of those baits that are more or less just along for the ride due to the sad action. Of course that assumes summer is ever coming...

[MOsmallies]

I forgot to take a picture of the repaired hole before I painted the belly, but here's a couple pics once I was finished...

- Removed the larger of the two rear ball bearings and repaired the hole with clear epoxy.

- Re-painted the belly

- Replaced trebles with size 6 Mustad KVD Trebles (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Mustad_KVD_1x_Strong_2x_Short_Triple_Grip_Treble_Hook/descpage-MKVDEST.html)

- Hand tied feathers and crystal flash on the rear hook (my first attempt and I'm pretty pleased with the way it ended up)

- Added a quality size 1 snap to the line tie

After supplies and time spent, this is about a $30 sammy. I sure hope it'll catch a few nice smallies this year!

Thanks again for all the tips and suggestions.

[Gavin]

Looks nice...You want another one? Still have this one...Looks like Lazer Rainbow Trout

[rps]

MOsmallies: I know your passion. I turned a 6 dollar bait into a 20 dollar bait so it would fish right. Some things just need to be done.