[woodburner]

Reading richy's post made me realise I hadn't said which side to put the tape on!
If you are using the tape as the sealant, it needs to go on the inside, otherwise the pressure will lift the tape (or at least try to). Still a good idea to put tape on the outside as well though, for extra strength.

[spottymint]

Hi

When our butt cracked, luckily we had some aquarium sealer to hand, the stuff glass aquariums are held together with.

It is a silicone sealent, takes 24 hrs or so to cure, but we just smeared it over the crack on the inside.

Easy to get at aquatic shops and it hasn't leaked since.

[woodburner]

Here's a coincidence:
On investigating the various surplus water butts in mine and Mum's gardens, with a view to taking the tattiest up to the lottie, I found that one of mine has a crack in it!

It was patched with gaffer tape, heaven knows how many years ago, and it's still mainly stuck, but coming adrift at a corner.
I'll clean it up and put some fresh on, and it'll do another turn up at the lottie.

[Swing Swang]

Prior to making the repair I suggest that you drill a small hole right at the very end of each end of the crack, you need to drill into sound butt, so make sure that you've got right to the end of the crack. This should stop the crack extending further.

I think this is a well known engineering thing, one of the bits of 'evidence' given is that of a ship that was splitting in half due to a crack in the hull, but the crack didn't spread any further once it hit a porthole.

Regards,

SS

[woodburner]

Prior to making the repair I suggest that you drill a small hole right at the very end of each end of the crack, you need to drill into sound butt, so make sure that you've got right to the end of the crack. This should stop the crack extending further.

I think this is a well known engineering thing, one of the bits of 'evidence' given is that of a ship that was splitting in half due to a crack in the hull, but the crack didn't spread any further once it hit a porthole.

Regards,

SS

It is indeed an engineers' trick, it was one of my Dad's, but I had forgotten about it. I can't remember what it was he used it on, but it wasn't a water butt or I'd have remembered!  Thanks