nautil 6500 yellow

[Diamond Tackle]

IMO
if you take it apart, i GUARENTEE you will not reassemble it.
Not because you dont have the mechanical skills, but because you will be in shock as to how this reel is put together.Its a toy. Start with a very small flimsy PLASTIC HOUSING (the larger rubber outside housing is very deceiving til you strip it off), & thats what supports those bearings and in turn your gears. Sorry to say it but this reel is the biggest POS ever built.They should be ashamed of themselves for putting it on the market and having the audacity to claim its a SEALED reel its not,saltwater will get in and rust it completely.And anyone who compares this reel to a VS needs to have their head examined. I have a grey 7500 apart,in a box, i am tempted enought to take pics of it so you can graphically see what im talking about.After only 2 years of use, every brearing rusted out completely and is falling apart inside.
IMO this reel is not designed to catch anything more than a 5 lb bluefish. A 20 lb blue,or 35 lb bass will absolutely explode this reel first time out. If I were you I would unload it on someone who fishes only 2 weekends a year for fluke or flounder & never dunks it,thats about all its good for.
again this is my opinion based on my personal experience and throwing $150 of my hard earned $ out the window.
I have several 706 z Penns that I have deliberately abused, and they cost only $82 a piece,indestructible reels. The Abu Nautil is not even in the same league.

[Slipknot]

Wow Tinman tell us how you REALLY feel maybe that's why they stopped making them.
2 years use for 150 bucks ain't that bad if you were getting it wet IMO.

About your statement about exploding first time a 35 pounder is hooked with it, well I hate to tell you but not only did mine NOT explode, it handled a 42 pounder in a full running current caught on a jig(out deep, not bait next to the shorline). Also handled many 30's in the canal as well as a few nights of 30 fish 20-30 lbs. Drag is still as smooth as when I bought it. I have 2 7500's and 2 6500's for the beaches and I had one of each replaced because of gear grinding after many many fish and winching them when I should have used the rod more. I think it's a decent reel for someone who is lazy with maintenence like me, I can handle rinsing and oil the line roller once in a while but I can't deal with packing grease in a 704 or something.

If the line roller is what's making noise Mr.Striper, like MikeP said it's easy to take apart and oil it, but if the white teflon washer is mush or missing, just get a new assembly from pure fishing.

[Diamond Tackle]

sorry for the rant Slip. & I am gald yours have not let you down yet.
Its just that i was SOLD on this reel as a DUNKING reel(for montauk) that you never have to grease.Technically that statement was true i guess.
Mine did catch a few bass too,and I did treat it like a rented Mule(which a VS will TAKE & never flinch) ,when it got sticky i knew its time had run out. For $150? i expected/deserved a little more .
Rather than send it back for a free new one like everyone else was doing i made a decision to strip it apart to see what was inside. It was not pretty.The biggest problem as i said was with the housing.
Are the Yellow ones different than the Grey ones?

btw, if you dunk ANY reel(like the 706z) you quickly become very intimate with it.There is no such thing as "I will clean and grease it in a couple of days when i get around to it".
It just still irks me when this reel gets compared in ANY way to a 706 or a VS.

Mr striper, the noise of the roller on the 706 is part of its charm,not a sign of mechanical failure at all.
best of luck with your Abu 6500 , I feel your pain.
end of rant

[Slipknot]

Originally Posted by Tinman

sorry for the rant Slip. & I am gald yours have not let you down yet.

no need to be sorry
the key word there is YET

I hope it doesn't cost me big when it happens, but if it does I'd probably toss it in the drink. In the meantime I'll try not to hook any speedboats.

[capesams]

Mrstriper is talking about the yellow model an tinman is talking the grey model....isn't the yellow one better built than the grey model? the grey did seam to blow sooner.

[mrstriper]

the reason why I say it is the roller barrel is it doesn't make the noise when I take the spool off, and it does when I pull the line off by hand.
(CS...it is the yellow model, and I have a new one in the box...just in case )
anyone suggest three in one oil, or hot sauce???
thanks

[JPowers]

I'm on the same page as Slip. Agree completely - great reel until it goes haywire. In our case that takes a long time after many LARGE ( or one hooked boat)

However, I don't think the Nautil can take much dunkingwise -the internal workings are a nightmare of cheap metal.