Tough waterproof paper for printing off charts

[sarabande]

I have just sent offspring away on a CCF training camp.

Part of their briefing was about the area for a survival exercise, for which they were given a plain paper map.

Checking the forecast (rain), so I have scanned the map, and printed it out on paper from these people http://www.memory-map.co.uk/acatalog/accessories_waterproof_paper.html

It looks excellent stuff and is genuinely waterproof (we tried!), so it might be useful if you don't have a nice conservatory on the boat, in which to look at your paper charts.

 

[Norman_E]

An intriguing product. I say intriguing because it clearly works for you despite the fact that most inkjet inks are water soluble, and run like hell if wet. My initial thought that the paper might be waterproof, but the ink still run. How hard have you tested it?

My answer for waterproof printed pages for the boat is to use ordinary paper, and laminate it with a laminator that cost about the same as 25 sheets of that paper.

 

[savageseadog]

There is a waterproof solvent ink available for inkjets but printers vary greatly in their ability to use them. Case of checking compatibility.

 

[sarabande]

lack of clarity on my part, sorry. I use a Kyocera 5020N colour laser.

We printed out the "map", then dumped it in a washing up bowl of plain tap water and left it outside overnight at about 3degrees C ambient.

In the morning, the paper was slightly "swollen", but eminently legible, and still untearable. The printed layer was still in intimate contact with the substrate and showed no delamination.

I have no experience of waterproof printing for inkjets, but a websearch shows it is possible.

 

[saltwater_gypsy]

Just a note of caution. Some years ago I printed off the club's race courses on waterproof paper which I tested as above. However it rapidly became apparent that the ink was not waterproof in SALT WATER and chaos ensued as the Laser fleet went in all directions at once.

 

[sarabande]

Good point. I'll do a test overnight in artificial sea water.

 

[Sans Bateau]

Most ink jet printers use water based inks. Solvent based inkjet printers are unlikely to be sold in the high St stores for home use. Only inks supplied by or recommended by the manufacture should be used. A laser printer is very different to an inkjet. A laser printer transfers the colours to the paper in the form of a powder toner, then the paper goes through a heat process that fuses the toner onto the paper. This may well, as Sarabande has discovered, be waterproof.

 

[rickp]

Print on an inkjet, then laminate - which is what we do for stuff we want to waterproof.

Rick

 

[Talbot]

water will eventually get under the edge of a laminate even when you overlap the edge of the document, but it does take time. Once it has, if you have used a laser, you are still ok, but if it is an inkjet, you are definitely in trouble!

 

[MikeJones]

Toughprint uses standard inks, no need for waterproof ones.