Managing the glue tube

So far we have been using a large nail to plug up the end of the tube to keep the glue from harding in the tip or spilling out. The problem we are experiencing is that once the nail is pushed in it slowly wants to come out again. I had experienced this problem before with other caulking tube products. What I found was that often an air bubble was lodging inside the tube which acts like a spring. Air compresses under pressure but then slowly wants to return to its original volume. At some point while expelling the caulking compound one hears a pop which is the release of the air bubble. After that the spongy movement of the nail usually stops and stays put.
Over time we get quite a messy blob at the head of the nail as pictured here. In fact the nail is emerging during the taking of this photo.


So a second errand yesterday was to pick up some Twist-n-Seal stoppers from Lee Valley especially designed for this type of a problem. It is a narrow cone with a fine spiral thread that stays lodged in the tip. They come in packages of 5. We tried it today and it works very well. much tidier and easy to apply as pictured here.


Just push the stopper into the tip and then give it a number of twists for the spiral thread to grip.

Visit to The Chandlery in Ottawa

Today was an errand day which means a drive into town, and one of the errands was to visit the local ships chandler to find some type of hardware that could best be used to tie painters (lines) to the bow and stern of the kayak. We found Pad eyes as pictured here that seemed quite suitable, made of Stainless steel. Bill of sale is also added for interest.

In the Ottawa area I only know of one marine hardware supplier called The Chandlery. Although a chandler is really a merchant of any type of hardware or supplies, in our culture it seems to have migrated to mean specifically a supplier of all things to do with boats, from hardware parts, pulleys, shackles to marine toilets, paddles, life vests, what have you. Indeed there are peculiar parts that one can get there and not anywhere else.