Quote:
The folding Gomboy, which I appreciate as an always-available saw, weighs an acceptable 1O ounces, and folds down to 10 ½” long by ¾” thick, but the oversized plastic case adds excessive bulk, and another 5oz in weight. That is half the saw’s weight. And twice the bulk, it’s not just the weight of the case, it’s the overkill size.
worse, the Gomboy will only go into the plastic case in one orientation, and I continue to bat .500 on that initial effort, with a now routine muttering of profanities.
Last paddling trip I again realized how klunky/kludgy/bulbous the plastic case Gomboy case was, and how much space it wasted in my essentials bag. I wanted something less bulky, and water-proofish, in case I forget and leave it out overnight sheathed atop the woodpile.
No belt loop lash, I don’t carry the saw in that fashion. No floatation added, although that would have been as easy as putting a piece of foam inside the sheath; if I drop the saw during in-canoe branchy sweeper cutting I’m probably dropping the saw itself overboard, not the saw in the sheath. The Gomboy, when not in use, lives in my essentials bag, which does have supplemental floatation.
Not even a grommet, just the simplest saw sheath I can make. I do not sew even a little if I can help it, so that made the choice of material easy; heat sealable Packcloth. I had some red remains on a roll that will do nicely, and cut an 8” x 18” rectangle from that material.
PB180001 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
I cut up the extra 8” along the full width of that 58” roll while I was at it, in part so I had a straight edge to work with the next time I used it. But I had a plan for the “scrap”; I’ve made a dozen or more red overhang flags for roof racked boats from that stuff, but most have headed up the driveway on someone else’s canoe, and I have but one or two left for our own use.
PB180007 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
The Gomboy is only 11” long, but I had plans for the 18” sleeve. First a nice even seam ironed up the long edge, folded over heat-sealable sides ironed together, using the usual cardboard ironing sub-surface and a wood fence for a straight heat-sealed hem.
PB180006 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
The clock with sweep second hand is important; needing 25-30 seconds on every inch of the heat sealed seam it is easy to lose track of time and proceed to quickly. Then a wider heat sealed seam at the bottom, to better resist the Gomboy being dropped inside the sheath. Although, once properly heat sealed together, that material is damn near impossible to tear apart.
That fits the Gomboy nicely, but there is that 5” of extra sleve left at the top. Cut intentionally long; I had a plan. First a wrap of Gorilla tape at the open end. The Gorilla tape stiffens the open end edges, like the thick black vinyl fold overs on many dry bags. You can see where I’m going with this. Plenty of extra sheath length for three fold-overs.
I needed some way to hold the “dry bag” sheath fold-overs closed. Dry bag style side release buckles would be overkill, and a snap awkward. I know I dissed Velcro hard in this thread, but in this KISS saw sheath it seemed the best, and easiest, choice.
A couple short pieces of self adhesive Velcro, each with a bead of flexible Loctite “Vinyl, Fabric and Plastic Adhesive” around the perimeter to make sure they stayed stuck when pulled apart. The Loctite lays thin enough that it won’t interfere with hook to loop adhesion.
PB180010 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
While the Loctite set up I turned back to Flagman duties. The overhang flags don’t need to be excessively large, although there is purportedly some “1 square foot of flag” regulation in a few states. I doubt that regulation is often enforced; I’ve driven Maine to Florida and cross country more than once dangling a red rag, sometimes just a red sock.
I do want the flags long enough to dangle near face level, as a “Don’t bonk your noggin on the boat (or, worse, a rudder)” warning, for me or other wander abouts. That is more a matter of how long to make the tie down cords to dangle warningly. Rounding off the flag ends that go flappityflap at highway speeds seems to help with longevity, or maybe I just prefer the aesthetics of rounded ends.
PB180011 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
Ends rounded, then a grommet seated in each flag. Pounding a grommet kit punch through that Packcloth is an exercise in hammer smashing futility. Melting a sealed hole through with a hot nail head is quick and easy. The “What size nail head to use?” quandary was also easy; I had left the correct nail in with each grommet kit. Maybe I am smarter than I look.
PB180012 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
Melt sealed holes ready tap for grommets the pièce de résistance on those overhang flags is a squib of prismatic reflective tape on each side. That reflective tape doesn’t need to be big, even a small piece on either side is surprisingly effective in a peculiar way.
PB180014 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
Quote:
All of the boats got red flags with prismatic reflective tape. Joel and I have both noted that the winky blinky of the reflective tape in car headlights at night keeps people from riding our bumpers. Blessed is the red flag with reflective tape; I detest tailgaters, especially glaring headlights in the mirrors at night.
PB030013 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
Each of the new red flag shop supply got a piece of prismatic tape on both sides, and each piece of tape got a bead of Locktite adhesive. The adhesive on that tape is quite tenacious, at least in canoe hull application, but in 70mph flappage the Loctite can’t hurt.
Experimentally (at first) the prismatic tape on the reverse got a bead of E-6000; thinking time would tell which adhesive bead fares better in flappage and UV/weather exposure. The perimeter of the grommets likewise got a bead of E-6000, to soften the transition between sharp edge brass grommet and Packcloth, also can’t hurt.
A shop stash of 10 new prismatic winkyblink red flags oughta hold me for a while. Of course I said that last time. I had some thin line with reflective tracer; black guy line that came with some tarp. Reflective or not, black guy lines are a terrible idea. And a mini-beener for quick connect
PB190028 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
I need to buy a handful of cheap minibeeners; I’m not giving away the stainless steel ones, nor the gated CCS mini beeners. Cheap beeners will do fine for give aways.
The saw sheath dry bag got prismatic tape on both sides as well, for nighttime flashlight “Where did I set the saw?” revelations.
PB190029 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
For my simplistic purposes the slender dry bag sheath is perfect, and not, like the OEM case, freaking uni-directional, the Gomboy fits in any orientation. I should have made one after the first trip with the Gomboy’s ridiculous plastic case.
I cannot imagine a future use for that OEM Gomboy sheath. But I hate to throw material away; who knows when I’ll need a piece of clear plastic to make a tiny window. Probably never.
One minor boo boo on the saw sheath; I should have made the Velco closure full width for a better seal. I’ll leave it be for now, I’m not planning on submerged waterproof; if that Velcro ever peels off the heat sealable Packcloth I can replace it with full width pieces for a better seal.
That proved easy enough to make a custom sized “dry bag” sheath for any folding saw. Not counting the wait time for the Loctite or E-6000 to set up the sheath, and the flags, were a couple hour’s work, and half of that was clock watching while holding an iron.
I almost wish I had a couple more folding saws. Which I do; everyone likely has a Sven Saw somewhere, but the Gomboy does everything I need.