[at-l] ..the grey wonder - NOT OT

[spiriteagle99@hotmail.com (Jim and/or Ginny Owen)]

Dear Mr Turtle -
In response to your recent query, we regret to inform you that various makes 
and models of Duct Tape were used in our Blister Mitigation Field Tests and 
that all failed under the specified conditions (i.e.- massive and continual 
dunking in snowmelt streams over a prolonged period of time).

This is not, however, to be construed as a complaint about Duct Tape in 
particular.  All other remedies also failed under the same extreme 
conditions.  Compeed probably lasted the longest (approximately 1 hour) 
while Moleskin was utterly useless after approximately 15 minutes.  Duct 
Tape (depending on brand and application area) lasted between 10 and 30 
minutes.

Please note that these extreme conditions (8 to 12 knee-to-thigh-deep 
snowmelt fords per day) are not generally encountered by AT hikers.

Your advice regarding duct tape selection is duly noted and coincides with 
the results of our Blister Mitigation Field Tests.  We sincerely thank you 
for your independent and unsolicited corroboration of our field test 
results.

You wrote:
>And of course the Perverse Fairy Godmother sometimes will cause even the 
>best to fail.

We have found this statement to be entirely true. We believe this effect 
falls under either the Third Corollary of Murphy's Law (although we didn't 
realize that Murphy was a Fairy Godmother) or under the more general heading 
of "Gremlins with prybars and hammers".  We tend to favor the Gremlin theory 
since Murphy knew nothing of duct tape and Gremlins are omnipresent and 
omnivicious.  But the evidence for either theory still ranges from fuzzy to 
non-existent.  Therefore, we are still open to other irrational 
explanations.

YMMV  :-)))

Walk softly,
Jim



William, The DT Turtle wrote:
>Uh, did you try quality or quantity.  I've found a lot of cheap store 
>brands
>that are not worth the cloth their put on & not worth it unless you use it
>right up.  Quality duct tape (DUCK brand is an example) is to some of the
>cheaper brands what a Humvee is to a Yugo.  Apparently this is one area
>where "They're all pretty much the same" is not true.
>
>One good way to tell is to see how the rolls stick together in the store --
>good should might stick a little bit, but not to where you have to use C40
>to pry them apart.  And, how "runny" the glue seems to be along the entire
>roll's edges: A roll where the edge is very "icky sticky" all over is apt 
>to
>be really cheap and have unreliable glue. Or is apt to be very old (again a
>bad choice).
>
>I've ducted a car hose with cheap tape and had to keep filling the radiator
>every few miles and retaping it.  And I've ducted with DUCK brand and had a
>lot less trouble.
>
>And of course the Perverse Fairy Godmother sometimes will cause even the 
>best to fail.
>


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