Fibre-glass first run

I was not the teenager who got a car at an early age and learnt to repair bodywork and fix engines. In fact I didn't learn to drive until I was 24 or 25. To be honest I couldn't afford it before then and when I did learn to drive the company for whom I was working at the time paid the bill. But that's a story for another time!

Anyway, not withstanding my lack of experience with fibre-glass, I decided that it would probably be the best solution to some broken spigots from a gazebo. It blew over a couple of years ago and while all the poles and the canopy survived, three of the spigots didn't.

Two of them were badly broken with one tube detached from the main body and two or three tubes split along their length.

Using some two-part epoxy glue, I repaired the cracks as best I could. I used hose clips to secure them and apply pressure to the glue joint. Next I dabbled with the fibre-glass kit I bought from a local motorist store.

For our first attempt (I was ably assisted by Ally) we cut longish strips and wrapped them over the cracked sections. It was quite messy and while I think the result will hold, it wasn't very pretty!

Second time around I cut shorter pieces of the mat and built up a patchwork. This worked much better and was far easier to push into the corners and around the curves. Hopefully both will hold, but we shall find out on Sunday when we use it again, weather permitting!