Mike Hill wrote:
I came up with this idea after getting a nasty tear in my brand new tiger tramp. The tear was about 6 inches long and was getting worst everytime I sailed the boat.
I talked to Greg Thomas at Nationals about how Hobie heat sealed the tramps without stitching.
I really didn't want to stitch in a patch because I didn't think it would hold very well and the fibers under the patch would continue to unravel.
Greg sent me a patch to try on the tramp and it worked great.
I used two household irons. I set both to high and I cut some material from the patch that Greg sent me that was smaller than my iron head. I put wax paper on each side of the tramp before heat sealing in the patch. After the irons were fully heated I put one on each side of the tramp and held it there for 15 seconds. This seemed to work well. After the patch had cooled I pulled the iron away and the tramp was good as new. Actually a couple of the edges were not completely sealed so I let it cool and then pressed on the edges again for 15 seconds. This seemed to work well.
I really don't think the wax paper was neccesary but I didn't want the tramp to stick to the iron.
It will only work on certain material. I tried it on an Inter 20 tramp and the tramp material doesn't melt. So as far as I know it only works on the heat welded Hobie tramps.
Keep One Hull Flying,
Mike Hill
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