In a message dated 1/12/2001 2:10:51 AM Eastern Standard Time, dlloyd_at_telus.net writes: > Also, does anyone know of a good material to cover foam with, for creating a > I'm experimenting with the same idea, Doug. When I built in a solid foam backrest in my Pintail most of nine years ago, I covered it with one eighth inch neoprene, single sided nylon with the bare rubber surface attached to the foam, and nylon out for abrasion resistance (in the Pintail, the only way in or out is to slide down or up the backrest). Can't tell you how it'll be long term, but after the first nine years or so, it's doing fine. Gabriel and I have discussed options in the past. I'm considering the use of stretch Cordura --- if there is such a thing --- and I've used (experimentally only so far) the liquid (black) plastic stuff you can get in hardware stores to dip tool handles in for protection and identification. It seems okay so far, and is, obviously, easy to conform to the seat or other pads. The key to success here is to get the surface as smooth as possible before painting this stuff on; for that, I've found the plaster and wallboard sanding screens --- the same stuff used to keep Yakima SnapArounds from slipping on the bars, so it's multi-function, Ralph --- makes a great final sander. Gets foam to the finish of Ultrasuede. (Oh, Ralph --- I guess you could use that sander screen for sanding plaster or wallboard, too, but we don't want to get ridiculous about this redundancy business!) Additionally, someone recently suggested smoothing rough-surfaced foam using a heat gun. So far, the old travel hair dryer I call a heat gun hasn't done much, but I'd be interested in knowing if a full fledged gun would work better. Neoprene seems excellent so far, and it will conform and stretch a lot while it's being glued on. Probably my choice of materials, but you have to remember that it's "dimensional", adding a tiny amount of thickness to the pad or seat, so keep that in the planning process. Jack Martin *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Fri Jan 12 2001 - 06:04:58 PST
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