Practical Sailor

Practical Sailor's gear and boat reviews take the guesswork out of your buying decisions.

RSS / XML

Home
Subscribers Only
Get Web Access Now
Start a Subscription
From the Editor
Letters
Purchase Back Articles
Sample Articles
Boat Reviews
Sample Boat Reviews
Tools & Techniques
In Future Issues
Sailing Books
Links
Customer Service
SEARCH


Chandlery 06/04: Tape Wars and Defender Stow Bag

Tape Wars: Tommy is Still Tops


Here in a pre-joust photo are, at the bottom, two cards of X-treme tape. The black and red X-treme samples are 1" wide (the only width available); black was used in the test. Across the top are one card surrounded by six rolls of Tommy Tape, which comes in widths from 1/2" to 2", thickness running from 10 mils to 50 mils and a lot of colors, including clear and glow-in-the-dark. If you use the 50-mil tape, you'd better have forearms like Gordie Howe to stretch it properly.

Self-bonding tape is very handy, and in the past couple of years we have become mildly addicted to the stuff. Known more formally as elastomeric, self-amalgamating tape, it's usually just silicone containing tiny bubbles of a chemical plasticizer. When you stretch this non-sticky tape (and it really likes stretching), the bubbles break and the gas contained therein permeates the silicone and morphs it into a ductile solid. Out of the sun, it lasts for years; in sunlight, it tends to dry, harden and tear. …


 
Subscriber Login
Purchase selection, or begin your FREE 14-day trial subscription to practical-sailor.com.

  Click Here to download Adobe Acrobat

Say Yes to 14 Days FREE of Practical Sailor

Subscribe NOW and get instant access and all the benefits of Practical Sailor online FREE for 14 days!

Email:
First Name:
Last Name:
Address 1:
Address 2:
City:
State       Zip:

About Us / Contact Us / Privacy Policy / Site Map
Copyright Belvoir Media Group, LLC. All rights reserved.