Attaching two pieces of solar cover...ideas?

[Melt In The Sun]

Hi all,
I am stupid, and bought a solar cover about 3 feet too short . For a while, I just used the material I cut off the sides to cover the far end, but I'd like to attach it to the rest of the cover so I reel it all up without having to deal with two pieces.

I tried using 3M spray glue, since that stuff usually sticks anything to anything! It held for a couple weeks, but has started to come apart. Has anyone done successfully done this :?: Ideally I would melt the two pieces together (like the manufacturers do), but I can't think of any way to do that myself.

 

[NWMNMom]

Gorilla glue or Boxer Glue? We used Gorilla Glue as backup for our strap attachments (rivits) but dang, that stuff hasn't budged 5 years in - where we put it together on the solar blanket it is still stuck like the day we put it there.

 

[Melt In The Sun]

Hm...I have gorilla glue. Thanks!

 

[Melt In The Sun]

Well...that didn't work. Has anybody else ever tried this?

 

[Richard320]

Not much sticks to polyethylene.

Welding/melting them together would be next to impossible, even with a soldering iron or something.

I suppose you could try sewing the pieces together...

 

[dmanb2b]

super glue?...pure guess, but worth a shot

 

[Melt In The Sun]

Yeah, I think I'm out of luck. My two attempts have thoroughly ruined the edges I was trying to glue together. As a last attempt, I may try ironing it.

 

[NWMNMom]

I suppose you could try sewing the pieces together...

That was my next suggestion. Other than that I can only suggest perhaps putting some small grommets at intervals on both sides of the split and putting some poly string/rope ties through to tie it together.

 

[svenpup]

Hey MITS,

Did you ever finish this? I already ordered grommets before looking here. I was planning on using the grommets with string as NWMNMom suggested, but the grommet package states that they can go through multiple layers. Now I am debating using the grommets as sutures of sorts with each grommet punched through both layers and holding them together. Just wondering what you ended up with and how it worked.

 

[Melt In The Sun]

Sven,
I've since gotten a new cover, the correct size this time. I just gave up and left it too short, and it worked OK that way.

 

[c379776]

4 inch wide flex tape is the ticket. I joined two 15 x 40 covers to cover my 15 x 75 pool. One secret: There are seams from the factory that form a tab (hard to explain) that runs long ways on the covers. Do not tape these tabs down flat, it will cause a leak and eventually failure of the seam. Instead tape on both sides of the tab including the tab itself and it won't leak. Hard to explain but it is important.