| So much seems to fall apart these days, ourselves
included, that we now have a toolbox entirely devoted to adhesives! Are
we unusual in this or does everyone have to carry a range of products
these days, hoping to find something that will work fast and well if
there's a bit of a drama 1000 miles from the nearest repairman?
Let's see now, what's in here? Duct tape, of course, in fact two
rolls,
just in case one gets mislaid. It can help with sail repairs; keeping
things in place, including a patch on a flexible diesel tank which has
decided to leak. We used a rubber tyre repair patch and then used duct
tape to keep the patch firmly against the tank while bonding took place.
Well, yes, we did actually do a bit of bonding ourselves while we
waited, but how could you possibly have known that?!
All jesting aside, it's a must on board.
Another product which has
proved invaluable is self-amalgamating tape. It's a kind of rubber tape
which looks, at a glance, like a fat roll of insulating tape, until you
notice the peel-away strip which stops the tape from sticking to itself
prematurely. We've seen, and used black and white but don't know if
there are other colours. You stretch the tape right out (lengthways) and
wrap it around whatever needs a strong, flexible, waterproof seal around
it. It doesn't come cheap but it's worth its weight in gold when you
need it!
There are two tubes of stuff to mix together and apply to
metal breaks, which become 'welded' quite quickly and quite strongly,
there is a two-part epoxy supply for things which can take their time to
'cure' and, naturally, there is cyano-acrylate glue, otherwise known as
'crazy' or 'super' glue, without which life would be a lot tougher than
it is. The only problem we have had with it is that it dries to a rather
brittle state, cannot resist hot water and doesn't stick to some
surfaces for long.
There is insulating tape for wiring, although we recently invested in a
pot of that stuff you paint over electrical connections to seal them,
which we've been moderately successful with, when it was impossible to
wrap tiny wires with insulation tape...
There is always a supply of gossamer thin PTFE plumbing tape, to wrap around
the threads of pipes that must have a liquid-tight connection. It came
in quite handy when the pump handle in the heads ( the sea-going
equivalent of the loo/lavatory/'john'/w.c. or whatever other euphemism
one chooses for the only place to go for a little peace and quiet...)
had eventually stripped the thread off the rod. A quick wrap (it's a
little fiddly to work with but well worth the effort,) and the handle
fits snugly again. This is stretching the term adhesion a little
because there is no actual sticking involved. The tape is, basically, a
strip of Teflon which clings to
itself through static and can be peeled apart again, but the
effect is the same!
Of course products vary tremendously from one manufacturer to
another, even when they purport to be 'the same'. If we name the brands
we favour, it will probably be assumed we are being paid to do so, (we
should be so lucky!) so we will wait for you to make your recommendations
and tell us why you favour one brand over another. There's more, much
more, still in the toolbox but we can't go giving away all our secrets
at once, can we?!
Which products do you consider part of the boat's essential kit and why? We'd love to have an e-mail from you, to help get this page moving
along and producing useful information for us all...
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