Teaching an old dog new tricks

I'm always interested in learning new things that are practical. My go to TV is Youtube and I've used it for many tutorials that have helped me in my day to day DIY, Boat stuff and bike stuff as well as a loads of other 'things'. 

For the record (my record) as per the last post I swapped my bikes (again - so many bikes so little time) I don't buy brand new bikes or cars preferring someone else to take the hit on brand new depreciation and hopefully they put all the expensive bits on I would like. This was the case with my latest bike  - the only issue was there were boot marks on the tops of the panniers where either the previous rider or pillion had dragged their boots when mounting or dismounting the bike. I was hoping to polish them out but that was not to be.

I gave some consideration to how I might improve the look while removing the scuff marks. The panniers  are an angled top so wrapping was going to be a challenge. I saw people on Youtube cutting templates for BMW RT panniers and in the comment someone mentioned no knife tape ... further research on Youtube came up with some good tutorials on this 'no knife tape' material I've never heard of. So I ordered 5m of the tape and some vinyl offcuts plus a smoother from Ebay !

 

I've just done both panniers and am pleased with the result. The vinyl can take and  needs heat. It helped to minimise the amount of free vinyl and leave enough of the magic tape to enable the release of the twine in the tape that makes the cut. In fact that was the hardest thing once I understood how much heat I could apply to the vinyl ( quite a bit) - releasing the twine was a PITA but once running cut the vinyl like cheese wire. 

 

Very pleased with the result, no creases or air bubbles on some strange angles and nice clean edges to the cut vinyl. I've enough  vinyl and no knife tape to do the tops again but I'm hoping I'll be more careful of the pannier tops and the vinyl will be hard wearing.

 

A process and materials to be recommended  - all in about 15 quid, as above with spare to do it again.

So this old dog has another new trick learnt. Very satisfying to pick up these new tricks and new processes - the no knife tape is a genius idea for vinyl wrapping. 

I'm about ready to start my next winter project that is a variation on my solar install on the boat that has been on there 10 plus years now, with a few adjustments over time. This is the same but bigger voltages bigger batteries and bigger solar array as I add this to the workshop that is being converted into a home office... hopefully powered by a combination of the sun and cheap overnight electricity.