The Walden Effect: Farming, simple living, permaculture, and invention.

Ratchet strap protection

ziploc ratchet strap


Our old ratchet straps are 5 years old and rusty.


My new method is to store the new one in a ziploc bag to protect it from the elements.



Anna Hess's books
Want more in-depth information? Browse through our books.

Or explore more posts by date or by subject.

About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.



Want to be notified when new comments are posted on this page? Click on the RSS button after you add a comment to subscribe to the comment feed, or simply check the box beside "email replies to me" while writing your comment.


The metal bits on these ratchet straps are several millimeters thick. It will probably take years for them to rust through enough to be dangerous.

At a guess, it would take much less time for sunlight (the UV component in particular) to break down the woven plastic straps themselves! Basically all plastics are vulnerable to UV. That is why stabilizing additives are added during their manufacture. But they get used up in the process of protecting the plastic.

So;

  • Always dry the straps before storing them. Water promotes rusting.
  • Store the straps out of direct sunlight when not in use. A metal tin is probably best, but an opaque plastic box will also serve.

A translucent zip-lock bag is probably not enough protection against UV. And it could trap moisture inside.

Before using an old strap, bend it a couple of times. If the outer strands part or pieces flake off, discard it.

Comment by Roland_Smith Sun Sep 14 17:48:54 2014





profile counter myspace



Powered by Branchable Wiki Hosting.

Required disclosures:

As an Amazon Associate, I earn a few pennies every time you buy something using one of my affiliate links. Don't worry, though --- I only recommend products I thoroughly stand behind!

Also, this site has Google ads on it. Third party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user's prior visits to a website. Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to users based on their visit to various sites. You can opt out of personalized advertising by visiting this site.