Tape – for wrapping a roofrack in…

I have bodged built an extended roofrack for our canoes.

It is currently galv metal U-section (41mm x12mm) and I would like to heatshrink or tape wrap it to stop it whistling as much and protect the boats some more.

Heat shrink at the right diameter is rather expensive…

Other than wide builders pvc tape, any other suggestions?

gorilla tape?
generic duct tape?

bar tape for roadie bikes/tennis racquets

Have you checked ebay? I got some 70mm dia heat shrink to cover my spinnaker pole for the boat and I needed about 3 -4m of the stuff. seem to remember it only being a few pounds. It was about 3 years ago mind…

What about getting it thermoplastic dipped? Shouldn’t have thought it would be too expensive and you won’t have bits of tape streaming off the back of the rack after 2 weeks!

Pipe lagging, zip ties and duck tape for me though.

Self amalgamating tape? – you get quite chunky soft stuff for wrapping yacht rigging to prevent sails chafing.

Get some foam pipe insulation and wrap it in duct tape? Stops any whistling, gives a lot more protection. Cheap as.

Pipe lagging and zip ties?

Cheers all – pipe lagging is an option, but it does damage quickly.

Have you checked ebay? I got some 70mm dia heat shrink

Getting 100mm diameter seems to suddenly get expensive…I will look again.

Duck tape is backup plan…

Self amalgamating tape should work well. I’ve used it for wrapping chainstays and one bike it’s still going strong after 3 years.

Old inner tubes are perfect for this sort of thing.

any hosepipe the right diam ? (running boiling water thru it will soften it and possibly make it easier to work with)

Old inner tubes are perfect for this sort of thing.

what they said

I looked at inner tubes – but I slide the boat off sideways, and an inner tube is to much grip and lumps…

How about a spray?

Cheers all – pipe lagging is an option, but it does damage quickly.

Hence wrapping with duct tape along the full length, giving it a couple of layers with plenty of overlap, going in a spiral, if at all possible.

This may be another option:

I looked at inner tubes – but I slide the boat off sideways, and an inner tube is to much grip and lumps…

When cut in the middle so it is an open ended tube and then wrapped round the post like bar tape it shouldn’t move a bit?