Info needed vintage Penn 85 Seaboy, worth anything???

[slater]

Im asking for a friend at work.
He says he was at an estate sale & got his hands on new "vintage" , never used, in box,with instruction manual, Penn 85 Seaboy.
He was wondering if its worth anything & if it is, what direction to take or contacts? He seems to think its vintage / worth something to a collector...
My question, how do we really know if its one from the early days "vintage"
or if its from 1985???

[Produce Man]

Check the date in the manual, that'll get you in the ballpark. For the reel specs try:

Buy Penn Reel Parts On-line With No Hassle: www.PennParts.com

[word-doctor]

Probably not something that would get air time on Antiques Road Show. Penn made a ton of reels over the years, but not to many models and not too many permutations (that's because they had good designs and kept the prices low). I'm not a collector, though, so who knows what someone would pay? I mean, it might have green sideplates that match a collector's wife's limited edition Precious Moments casts.

[John]

I like to check e-bay to get an idea of what the old Penn's are selling for (I've contemplated selling some of mine). There's a Sea-Boy on there now that's listed at $25.00. It's not "NIB" (New In Box), but it'll give you a rough idea.

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[slater]

Yeah, he looked at the manual & the box & no year available on when it was built.
My guess is, its not worth anything....garbage!

[Waiohinu Lawaia]

I actually love this little reel. Well, I am a Penn fanatic, so there you go, but it is really a pretty solid little reel. I actually caught my first Catalina Yellowtail, a solid little 20lber w/ 20lb Ande on this reel, and it was flawless, thing casts pretty damn good too…

The drags are sufficient (definitely not optimal) for 20-25lb. in my experience, but the main downside is the gear ratio, which like most older Penn’s is probably under 3:1. Just means you got to crank faster, the upside is there’s plenty of power though…

What is it worth? Whatever someone is willing to pay. For a NIB condition I’d be willing to give you $30. My guess is you could get more, just a matter of finding someone who really wants it…

[Waiohinu Lawaia]

Oh, my bad, I have a 285 Delmar, not an 85 Seaboy... Not sure what the difference is, but mine has a chrome plated brass spool.

[AKSalmon]

The 285 has no collectable value. Fish it. It has a gear ratio of 2.5 to 1 and drag washers like a Squidder or Long Beach 65. But be sure to put some dacron backing on the spool; mono will ruin the old Penn spools.

[Waiohinu Lawaia]

I'm curious what is meant by mono will ruin the old Penn spools. I have mono on all of mine for the last 15 years and they still work fine... ??

Is it corrosion???

[AKSalmon]

When you pack mono tightly, it puts an extreme amout of pressure on the spool and can cause it to spread or warp. When people first started using mono on saltwater reels, Penn included a sheet of paper in their reels telling customers to remove the line at the end of the day to release the pressure. Really. I see lots of bad spools in my reel repair business, almost all caused by packing mono too tightly. (This is especially common with old Penn 49 spools.) Penn started using anodized aluminum spools in almost all of their reels several years ago because they are stronger than the older brass and steel spools.

[Tinman57]

I got some Penn 85s on Ebay for about $10 bucks apiece. I use them for casting crab snares. They are actually pretty good reels.