CURTAIN CALLS
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Careless driving, accidents and thievery; shifting loads, stillages and erratic fork-lift work—they can
all damage curtains, keeping you busy with repairs. Bryan Jarvis
argues that a stitch in time...
Ahole in your curtainsider is a hole in your business. Most curtains are ripped through carelessness or vandalism, so prevention will always play an important role. But cure is far cheaper than replacement, and curtainsider repairs are an art form in their own right. Many a one-man band can handle small repairs, but for curtain suppliers repairs can be a valuable enhancement of their aftersales service.
It's impossible to quantify the cost of repairing curtains in Britain, but so many tradesmen make a good living that it must be a thriving industry.
Most bodybuilders and trailer manufacturers see it as a good way of tidying up any aftersales problems by assessing their products at the sharp end and getting close to clients they might rarely meet with.
Most of the work is contracted out, but some of the big-name companies put their own tradesmen on the road to do nothing else but carry out quick, effective repairs to superstructures.
One of these is Loughborough-based Southfields, which offers curtains for any application. Its offerings include established Powermesh drapes with their criss-cross reinforcements and short, bolt-on straps: its recently upgraded security material, Body Armour; and a buckleless range. This features a series of securing clips under the bottom edge that lever against adjustable tensioning springs at the top and then clamp into hooks under the rave.
This flush surface has a number of advantages, including a remarkably low incidence of curtain damage, compared with traditional drapes.
But all curtain damage, and the occasional teething problem, is handled by Southflelds' two field engineers, Paul Farrell and Eric Meakin.
Their vans bulge with fast repair equipment and parts such as flooring panels, fixtures and Fittings, and rolls of every coloured material that the firm sells. The hardest part, says Farrell, is finding time to return to the factory to restock the van.
More than half of their time is spent on curtain repairs, but they occasionally fix hinges, doors or even holes I trailer floors by fork-lifts. To replacing whole 25ft lengths of Farrell routs through to the rn bearers, cuts out a short section,' and rebates it, then fits it in. Wit hour and half the floor's as good a "But so long as drivers are exi to negotiate dark parks, trees, gateways or have to reverse in gested trailer parks or ferry ten there's always going to be plenty a tam n repair work out there," says F Then there's the opportunist armed with a rusty Stanley blad not a trace of conscience. He I that undoing straps will rock a t and alert a snoozing driver, but a slit won't register. These attackr to leave several curved slashes, ji enough for a quick peep before n up the body.
Most operators will make da sticking duct tape over cuts like until the driver becomes sick of : flapping edges in his driving mirroi presses for a quick repair job.
But an awful lot of damage is c by constant abrasion from fork pallet trucks, roll cages or stillagel to mention shifting loads—and fields is about to start offering Armour as a means of counterirg The latest PVC-coated mate' offered primarily as a security curtain. It is knife, fire and frost resistant and won't deteriorate in sunlight, but it's not the cheapest of solutions.
However, patches or strips of Body Armour can be added quite easily and cheaply too, says, Farrell who took time out to demonstrate to Commercial Motor the art of repairing conventional Powermesh curtains, and of heat-welding Body Armour patches. "Apart from the galvanised steel inserts, the material's identical but you have to be extra careful when applying the heat," he says. And you must get the rolling pattern right too."
Conventional curtain repairs
Most quick-fix curtain repairers shove a board up behind the curtain, clamp it to the side rave and then weld a patch on the outside. However, Farrell warns that the edges will soon lift, and in no time they will look rather tatty. His method is simple: always patch on the inside and, wherever possible, take the curtain down to do it. On the newer Southfields' systems this simply entails removing a bolt from either end of the tracking.
Familiarise yourself with the various curtain materials on the market, and with your heat gun, and use a high-quality silicone roller to knead the materials together Establish mitering patterns that will completely merge both patch and curtain without leaving behind ugly telltale bubbles or ripples.
The real knack is heat-welding at a speed that leaves a smooth finish without any burning or blobbing of the materials. More importantly, says Farrell, a good job is your best advert—so take pride in your work.