FAQ Friday #48 - How do I cut Treadmaster sheets into wear patches for my inflatable boat tubes?

Treadmaster is often used for flooring but can also be used for wear patches. I've seen a lot of hypalon tubes over the years, with the Standard Diamond Pattern Treadmaster fitted to them as wear patches and black is definitely the most common - although there are other colours which can work well too.

The Treadmaster sheets we sell are 1200mm x 900mm and there are 4 finish options:

• Diamond Pattern
• Smooth Pattern
• M-Tec Small Diamond
• M-Tec Ultra Grip

The M-Tec range are slightly thinner (1.8mm rather than 2mm) so are slightly more flexible for installing on tubes. 

But how do you cut it?

My first tip, is do a cutting plan. A rough sketch (or scale drawing) to check which orientation to cut your patches can help avoid costly mistakes. Also, the diamonds are diamonds, not square so for aesthetics it's nice to have the diamonds all going the same way. 

You will need the following tools:

• Ruler/tape measure
• Masking tape
• Pen/pencil
• Straight edge/ruler (for cutting against)
• Utility knife (with a new or freshly snapped, sharp blade)
• Cutting board
• Round object for radius corners

Here are the steps I took to create multiple wear patches from a sheet of Treadmaster...

1 - Create my cutting plan - it was only a rough sketch but clearly showed which way round all the patches were going to be and where I needed to cut. I can then also choose what order to do the cuts.

2 - Measure and mark where you need to cut, on both sides of the sheet. I like to mark on top of a piece of masking tape as it makes the mark easier to see and peels off easily post cutting too.

Here's a close up of one of the marks:

3 - Make your first cut. I like to use a straight edge that's a bit thicker than a normal ruler, but too thick (ie a levelling tool) can make it harder work. 

tip - cut close to where you're holding the ruler and keep good, firm pressure on the ruler:

This goes for the start...

The middle...

And most importantly - the end...

4 - repeat steps 2 and 3 until you have all your patches cut.

5 - Cut the rounded corners. My go to for neat rounded corners is a Leafield Marine C7 valve sealing washer. You might need a larger or smaller radius to match the boat though. Line the washer up on the corner of your patch:

And cut round the edge, whilst maintaining firm pressure on the washer - note that my fingers go white at the tips in this next photo:

It's better to have a single clean cut that to have to go back and trim...

Here's a finished rounded corner:

6 - Repeat step 5 for all your corners

And now you have neatly cut patches, with beautifully rounded corners ready to fit.