Re: [bolger] Digest Number 665 - Tarps vs Dave Gray

Garth,
Thanks for the info.

I'm looking for tarps not for sailmaking but for boat covers.

I've gotten the 'silver' tarps from Harbor Freight and had good success
(about a 2-3 year 'over winter' life) with them.

However, this year I've had a 15 footer under cover since Fall of last
year. The summer sun, plus the weight of the tarp itself, and the
internal pressure from the 'ridge line' of the support has the top
looking a bit ragged in spots. Looking for something either a bit more
resistant to UV or at least cheaper if I have to go another summer.

Regards,
Ron

> Message: 5
> Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2001 18:08:51 -0000
> From:garth@...
> Subject: Re: 'tarpsonline' vs 'Dave Gray's site'
>
> --- In bolger@y..., "Ron Magen" <quohog@w...> wrote:
> > WHO is this Dave Gray and what is the
> > 'address' of his site?
>
>
> Hi Ron --
>
> I'm not really sure who Dave Gray is, aside from being the patron
> saint of all polytarp sailmakers. He lives in Fishers, Indiana, and
> sells white polytarp, along with kits including double-sided carpet
> tape, vinyl tape, grommets, etc. -- plus instructions in making a
> polytarp sail.
>
> His site is:
>http://hometown.aol.com/polysail/HTML/index.htm
>
> It has a lot of good instructive material, too, in addition to the
> selling pages.
>
> I bought a 20' X 30' piece from him a couple of years ago and have
> made: one 113 sq. ft. Windsprint sail; one 60 sq. ft. Gypsy sail, one
> 32 sq. ft. standing lugsail of my own design for a sailing pirogue;
> and now the 75 sq. foot balanced lug for Mayfly -- and I still have
> plenty of tarp left over.
>
> Anyway -- I'm not sure about the weight of his tarp vs. Tarpsonline.
> I'll look into that. He does have a page showing it holds up to some
> extraordinarily high pressure per square foot -- far beyond anything
> small sailboats ever encounter.
>
> Also check out intothewind.com -- a kitemaking catalog. They sell
> white unmarked Tyvek in 60" wide rolls -- for about the same cost per
> square foot as polytarp. I've been meaning to experiment some with
> that.
>
> All best,
> Garth