reel saltwater dunk, whall shall i do

[beastquest101]

this big mint wave cleaned me off the rocks today
stradic ci4 plus underwater it's pretty much crispy new
has been i week now n still smooth'ish (ish)
what do i do with it , send it to shimano and if how much cost ??/ idk ruff
my local tackle store people can't service for DohDohDohDoh
cheers fellow fisherman for suggestions

[Slazmo]

Hey mate,

First and foremost how long and how hard was it dunked in salt? Momentarily or dunked deeply?

I would after the salty bath, dunk it in fresh water eg a bucket, and get it moving by rotating the handle a bit.. Remove it from the fresh water and then wash it under fresh running water again and then shake off as much water as possible, allow to dry or pat dry with a dry absorbent cloth remove the spool, handle and side garnish knob (Left handle access cover). Fresh water is far safer in a reel than salt, suspended sediments eg: quartz and silt and other corrosive elements eg 'salt'...

Throw it in a snap lock / zip lock bag - fill that with lots of new white rice in with the reel and close the bag - airtight is absolutely imperative. The rice will absorb most of the moisture available to be absorbed.

This isnt a fix its just something I have found works to remove all the water that hasnt mixed in with the grease etc, had this done with a reel I did for Pip on here and I found that most if not all the water was absorbed from the reel and that was a Daiwa T3 bait caster that was dunked.
And they're notoriously hole riddled, found only a drop of two inside the reel after it took two days to get to me via post.

Hope this helps with stabilising the reel while it pending service.

[beastquest101]

it was under for a good minute , had to dive to the bottom to get ahaha
yeah mate, i done all that when i got home, but can i send it to shimano or something to get the insides properly cleared/greased

[dannydownunder]

If it was me I would strip and re-grease, If you don't feel comfortable doing it take it in for a service perhaps.

[Dugout]

I did the same thing with my ci4 + while wading the flats, rod slipped down while I was unhooking and releasing a whiting, I didn't realise the reel was underwater. After a week the salt had crystallised and it felt a bit Rough like there was fine sand inside.

I stripped it myself, cleaned and regreased and re packed the bearings too. (Bearings can be opened with the tip of a fishing hook) Just take LOTS of photos and take your time, it's not that difficult. I fear shimano service would've been a bit expensive. Anyway it's good as new now and properly lubricated as per the manual.