Rubber eylets for tarpaulin

[pcatterall]

The cover which I made for the main part of the boat has done a good job so far this season.
I used the cheap PVC stuff in clear plastic with the rip stop nylon ( but it was the heavy grade cheapo stuff!)
I put in eylets at extra points and where I had sliced the material to go round shrouds.
I would like to make a better one next year and today I was a given a tarp with rubber eylets about 60mm diam (hole about 10mm) which look much superior to the brass ones in mine and in my DIY kit ( some of which have pulled out)
They look like they spread the tension much better.
Question... can these be bought for DIY use.
Regards

 

[paulm299]

Don,t know about rubber , But any decent outdoor shop ( Blacks etc. ) sell plastic eyelets that are easy to assemble and stood up to our non existent hurricane on top of the Peaks .

 

[William_H]

A simpler better attachment to tarp is bu using a loop of cloth folded over several times to make a heavy tape. You sew it onto the tarp with one leg each side of the tarp. You make the tape wider and longer into the body of the tarp for stronger attachment. In fact you could use webbing and hem the whole tarp with loops made at each rope attachment point.
An eyelet is only as strong as the fabric it is let into. You must sew in doubler pieces to increase strength. Look at a jib construction.

olewill

 

[DaveS]

Somebody, somewhere, posted that the original use of the sheet bend was to attach a sheet to the clew of a sail before such high tech things as cringles appeared. If I understand this correctly, the idea would be to take a handful of sailcloth and treat it as the "bigger rope" (see most sheet bend illustrations) then make a (hopefully double) sheet bend round it with the sheet. I've never tried this personally, buit if it works for a sail it should work for a tarp.

 

[Strathglass]

The best thing I have found for joining ropes to the edges of an aging cover is plastic screw on clips.

They can be found Here

The advantage of them is that the edge of the tarpaulin can be rolled several times then clamped. This gives a much more substantial grip to the tarpaulin which is less liable to rip than eyelets.

Cheers

Iain

 

[cliffordpope]

I like the screw-on clips. i suppose you could make a low-cost equivalent by bolting two wooden battens together and then drilling a hole for the rope. It could be either just two blocks for a single eyelet, or a strip right along one edge.

 

[pcatterall]

Thanks guys, all good stuff. I really liked these though as they had a very large spread, several inchs across, so the load was well spread as per the principle behind many of your suggestions. If I could get them great but if not I will conncoct something bearing in mind all your suggestions.
regards peter

 

[ShipsWoofy]

Are you describing these

If so, I tend to stock up at the jumbles.

Otherwise can you post a picture, or a sketch if you don't have one.

 

[pcatterall]

No photos and I think my drawing would be US they are 3" diameter rubber like 'washers' about 5mm thick and glued or bonded to the actual tarp, there is a 10mm diam hole in the centre for fixing a rope. As I said they spread the load onto the tarp far better than the brass or plastic eylets
Cheers