Adhesives advice please?

Jeff Burke wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

How flexible are you wanting the seams to be?

If you're just wanting to use the composite tarp for flooring, try Liquid Nails.

If you're trying to make a tubular tent, Duct Tape would work best.

If you're trying to make a double-/triple-/quadruple-/...-thickness tarp then simply using rope through the grommets is sufficient.

Start here:

Looked there, found nothing about bonding polyethylene, followed several links from there and found nothing. There is a site where you can ask a "guru" what to use but it looks like a spam collector or telemarketer collector.

Thanks.

This will be a boat/utility trailer cover, the overlapped seem must stand up to hi-way speeds and be water proof.

Thanks.

You might want to try a hot air blower and a roller to press together the heated surfaces (at least that's what I was using when making advertising banners)

3M has some contact adhesive doubles-sided tapes specifically for PE. Very expensive, $20 to $40 per 60-yard roll. Try Googling 9495LE.

I have used ordinary contact cement to fold and bond an edge of Tyvek over rope to make edge reinforcement of a large banner.

The tarps you speak of for sure, and the adhesive I suspect, do not stand up to weather. Polyethylene ages rapidly in UV sunlight, and becomes brittle in a matter of months.

As far as I know; my only choices for tarp material is polyethylene and canvas. I know the blue traps only last a couple months out in the Arizona sun, these silver tarps are supposed to be better, by how much, I don't know yet.

Thanks.

Start with a big enough piece that you have no seams except to hold the rope at the edge, which has no need to be waterproof.

I get plastic tarps from Northern Hydraulic. They sell a tape (tarp tape ?) that matches the chemical composition of the tarp material. It holds up as well as the tarp material itself. I've had some on a trailer cover for several years with no problems.

Bob Swinney

I would pay a pro to make a fitted cover for the boat, the result will be much better (read, will look better and no huge water puddles collecting after rains and leaking into the boat, etc). Most tarps do not stand up to weather and sunlight very well either. There is a good chance that your DIY efforts will be wasted.

i

Just be aware of one possible difficulty: Some (not all) tarps are 'ironed' with a lubricated hot roller. The release compound stays on the tarp, and will interfere with any bond -- even a PSA like carpet tape.

Just for security, wipe down all areas to be bonded with isopropyl alcohol and let it dry before attempting an adhesive bond.

No glue actually 'bonds' untreated polyethylene, but PSAs will stick darned well if the surface is clean.

There is a potassium dichromate/acid etching method that will render the surface porous enough for liquid glues to bond, but the method would be impractical on thin material or large sheets, since it takes long immersion in the hot liquor to accomplish.

LLoyd

Jeff Burke wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Not very - I've gone through a bunch of them - and they will NOT stand up well for what you want (boat cover), especially while towing.

They come apart [shred] quickly at highway speeds.

BTDT!

The problem is their construction: PE fabric coated with more PE.

One alternative fabric that you may have overlooked: Naugahyde. This is available in Wal-Mart, fabric stores, etc., and is, normally, the boat cover material of choice.

If your chief interest is in keeping the stationary boat's interior clean, a single LARGE tarp - primed with Krylon Fusion paint and then sprayed with Aluminum paint - would be a better choice than trying to piece "silver" tarps together.

Try putting the edges over each other and ironing with a med hot iron. Get the right temperature by experiment.

Use a nonstick cooking sheet between the iron and plastic to prevent iron sticking to plastic. this works with most thermoplastics and welds the seam together.

too cool and it pulls apart - too hot and it melts. But get it right and it works well.

Jeff Burke wrote:

The silver tarps don't last much better than the blue ones. I get about 3 seasons out of a silver one in MN, with partial shade most of the day.

Try going to a company that makes billboards. Many billboards are now printed on a heavy material like vinyl or something like that. It's tough stuff whatever it is. Too bad Victoria's Secret doesn't advertise on billboards.....

Here in AXZ I have had blue tarps turn to powder in 2-3 months.

That would make for an interesting boat cover!

I wonder how Tyvek would work for my purposes, and what the hell could be used to make tyvek stick together?

I had one of those heavy, full color cardboard beer displays with Elvira on it about 20 years ago. I had her tacked up to the wall on the passenger side of the cab in my stepvan. I loved the stupid looks she got from truckers and tourists as they passed me from the other direction. One of the life size Victoria's Secret posters would have caused a lot of wrecks.

BTW, I gave Elvira to my 16 year old nephew when I left Ohio. Boy, did I hear about it from my sister, for several years. Paybacks are hell! ;-)

Uh, Tyvek is also polyethylene.