Installing D Rings - Need a Cheap Roller

Putting d rings in. Need a roller to smooth out the patch, but don’t want to pay $20 for one.

Thoughts?

Canned Salmon?
I just looked in our food cupboard and found a can of Bumble Bee canned salmon. There are no ridges on the can, and no ridge/lip holding on the bottom of the can. I think it would make an excellent roller for your purpose.

or, if you’re alergic to fish . . .
a piece of closet rod, rolled under your hand or foot.

I used my fingers

– Last Updated: May-07-14 5:22 PM EST –

By pressing quite hard with my fingers in a pattern that "chases" out any gaps beneath the vinyl fabric, I've gotten good results. If the material is a little bit too "grippy" for your fingers to slide on, put a piece of paper down first. Otherwise, any rounded object should work fine. It need not "roll" - sliding is fine. In similar applications, I've even used the rounded handle of a paint brush. A common table spoon works well too. Don't rely on the strength of the spoon's handle, as it will bend. Apply pressure with a finger or thumb placed right into the cup of the spoon, and rub the material with the curved back side.

look for one of these
http://hardwaredistributors.com/roller-seam-1-quot.html?gclid=CKzP0ffmmr4CFahAMgod2EMAkw



at your local hardware store. Ask for a seam roller.

You mean “smooth out” or ensure
strong contact? I never had trouble with wrinkles or anything that needed smoothing, but failure of some patches after 10 years (!) suggested that firm roller pressure might have made a difference. The texture of the patch and the boat surface after failure suggested that there was less than 70% adhesive contact. Speckly adhesion zones instead of overall contact.



Get a roller like pblanc suggests. Don’t worry about little wrinkles as long as you roll hard and get good contact. In fact, as long as the central zone around the D-ring holds, the outer surround doesn’t even “know” the strain.

I use a flat plastic scraper
works fine.

Screwdriver
Always have used the handle end of a screwdriver or similar tool.



kru