What Kind Of Starch Do You Use When Intalling A Zodiac's Floor?

[Robinsvoyage]

OK.. I really would like to put the zodiac together today and test her out on one of the ponds here in Nebraska... but the manual says I need to sprinkle starch in the places where the floor clips in... and not to use talcom powder... Anyone know what kind of starch I need to buy? I called all of my friends last night, and nobody really knew for sure, although one person thought corn starch, the other some sort of fabric starch.

Robin

[MMNETSEA]

Chalk Powder

Chalk powder is calcium carbonate, Chalk powder is found to be the major raw material for industries like Distemper manufacturers [ a mixture of pigments with powdered chalk and an adhesive ] board chalk for schools and colleges.

Robin , probably easiest way to locate, is to buy a few sticks of White School Board Chalk - crush to a fine powder - then apply to the edges of the boards and into the joint between the floor and the tubes.

Corn and fabric starch would become 'sticky" on contact with water.

Powdered Chalk is also to be found in puncture repair kits, to inhibit the excess adhesive sticking to where it shouldn't.

Richard

[JeanneP]

Cornstarch, fabric starch, they're pretty much the same thing. Cornstarch in a box is probably cheaper. I think they recommend starch because it is not abrasive, is water soluble and is slippery when wet, making it a good lubricant that washes away. Don't worry about it getting sticky, when it dries again it will flake away, or when wet, you just rinse out the boat.

[MMNETSEA]

Hi Robin again,

I remember the name of the chalk that is used in punture repair kits - FRENCH Chalk ---

Here is the article from Wikipedia :-

French chalk is a type of talc used by tailors for marking cloth, by cleaners for removing grease from cloth and as a dry lubricant in its powdered form.

French chalk is also an essential ingredient required for the repair of punctured inner tubes of pneumatic tires, such as are found on bicycles. A block of French chalk is typically included in proprietary puncture repair kits. These kits typically include some means of generating a fine powder from the block, for example a small file or a roughened area on the metal case in which the repair kit may have been supplied.

To repair a puncture, the relatively fragile inner tube is removed from its normal location inside the tire. The puncture is identified by inflation of the inner tube whilst it is held under water. The site of the puncture is identified by a stream of bubbles. After marking the site of the puncture and drying the inner tube, a patch is secured over the puncture using a suitable adhesive. A fine dusting of French chalk is then applied to the same region to prevent adhesion of the inner tube to the inner surface of the tire after it has been replaced and inflated to the correct pressure.

[JeanneP]

But Richard, Zodiac specifically states that talc is not to be used. Talc, talcum powder, it's magnesium silicate. I assume Zodiac has its reasons for recommending against talc.

[Robinsvoyage]

Took it out of its box today to look at the parts.. seems it must be last years model as it still has the wooden slats rather than the cheap plastic ones that are on them now..

Robin

[MMNETSEA]

Originally Posted by JeanneP

But Richard, Zodiac specifically states that talc is not to be used. Talc, talcum powder, it's magnesium silicate. I assume Zodiac has its reasons for recommending against talc.

Jeanne, you are absolutely correct , Robin's manual says not to use 'talcum powder"

My suggestion was that he uses powdered chalk : Calcium carbonate.

The reference to Wikipedia's French Chalk was merely to tie it into the use of powdered chalk in repairing rubber tubes.

I also remember the use of washing up liquid as a lubricant for the insertion of floorboards into an Achilles inflatable.

[Robinsvoyage]

Yeah.. well I did buy corn starch today.. I'll think about launching this thing tomorrow to test it out.

Robin