[themoog]

I've been trying to think how to put this delicately ('cos I'm classy like that ) but I have a crack in my butt that needs mending.

I've been given an old water butt by my neighbour for use on my newish allotment, but it's got a crack about 7-10cm long, about a third of the way up. I was wondering whether there was a tape of some description which would keep it water-tight and would hold in wet/bad weather.

[woodburner]

The better quality gaffer tapes are water proof, (they are used for temporary repairs on dinghies) also kitchen/bathroom sealant, but I don't know that either would stop the crack developing when it fills with water again.
They don't cost much if you shop around, so it's probably worth a try, and if it doesn't work, you could perhaps make it into a wormery or big plant tubs.
If the top half doesn't have a suitable lid to serve as the base of a tub, it could still be used as a rhubarb forcer.

[Ice]

Have a read through this.
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=3427.0

[themoog]

Thanks, I'm very pleased to see that there are people of a similar standard of humour  !

[Ice]

Oh I can sink much lower.

To be honest, it worked for a while but I think the pressure when it was full caused it to leak.  I got rid of it and bought new last year.

[GrannieAnnie]

I know its not much use to you, but I have a collection of Lilliput Lane cottages, and bought some off Ebay really cheap as they are slightly damaged.  I bought this stuff they use to repair models and its called 'Milliput' and it's like a epoxy where you mix the 2 things together.  It costs around £6, but it said it is heatproof, cold proof waterproof the lot, so when my water butt had a hole in it, about where you said yours is, I filled the whole hole with this stuff, making sure it overlapped both inside and outside, and its still watertight 3 years later.  I also mended a hole in one of my chooks bell drinkers with it and that is still fine too, even though its been out in all weathers!

[Gwiz]

fibreglass, messy, but permanent.

[themoog]

I've no doubt that you can Ice ! I'm discovering from the old boys on the allotment that mucky wellies and mucky minds go very well together. I'm not quite sure what all of their jokes mean, mind  ...


Righto, I shall run some trials with the mending. I'll try the gaffer tape option first and move on to more messy and complicated stuff later  .

[Ice]

My butt crack was on the bottom, I see yours is on your side    As your butt crack is in a different place to mine you might have more luck repairing it.

I used a fibreglass repair kit from a car spares shop and it worked for a while.  I'll add no more description of the process or I might upset the mods.

[Bombers]

Just a thought..... How about trying 'super glue' 

[randombod]

fibre glass is the gold standard but epoxy would sufice or you could melt the edges of the crack and melt fuse it together 

[themoog]

Mmm. Remember that you are talking to a woman who, although able to follow complicated recipes and suchlike with a very high degree of success, is beginning to have nightmares about putting up a flat-pack shed  . The lower tech the better.

And I was supposed to grow up to be a feminist, oops!

[randombod]

Mmm. Remember that you are talking to a woman who, although able to follow complicated recipes and suchlike with a very high degree of success, is beginning to have nightmares about putting up a flat-pack shed  . The lower tech the better.

And I was supposed to grow up to be a feminist, oops!

ah sod that you get stuck in gal 

[Ice]

Always remember, if a bloke can do it the task can't be that difficult.

Get yourself some tools and just do it.  A shed is a floor, four walls and a roof.  Read the instructions as you would do a recipe.

[richyrich7]

Once you've fixed your but crack wrap over the crack on the outside with "duck" tape or whatever to try to minimise the expansion of the barrel at that point to stop it opening up again.