Bushwalk Australia

Forgive me if I have already posted something about Paskal, but they have some interesting products to look at.

I recently bought some weathermax fabric to make a boat tonneau. Lovely fabric to work with, and it would be very suitable for rucksack material. Haven’t purchased any other stuff from them, but it’s worth keeping the link if you’re looking for what seem to be mostly heavier grade materials.

You need an ABN to purchase, and can’t purchase small quantities, although fabric is by the meter.

https://www.paskal.com.au/

The other place which I do frequent a lot, is Leffler.

They sell all sorts of leather, plus shoe making stuff. Leather will probably have limited interest to most of you, except the guy who was trying to repair the inside of his Scarpa boots! However, you can buy shoe glues, shoe soles, including some walking boot soles, and Topy for leather soled shoes - I used to pay some moron something like $70 to put Topy on my work shoe soles, and I can buy a pair from here with appropriate glue and do it myself for way less. Also boot eyelets, rivets, webbing, fasted style buckles, cones of thread. Note that if you join Leffler for a small fee, you get something like 20% off, and it’s a once off fee. Very worthwhile.

https://www.leffler.com.au/

You can MYO anything, but sourcing “raw materials” is the issue, hence my post.

Hope this stimulates some productivity. I’ve made most of my boat tonneau today, and have a couple of knives on the go, which will need leather sheaths. The dogs need new collars (Leffler buckles and leather), and I’m thinking of making a simple tote bag for interstate travel from the leftover weathermax fabric, and some leather for the handles.

Happy days!

A

andrewa wrote:Forgive me if I have already posted something about Paskal, but they have some interesting products to look at.

I recently bought some weathermax fabric to make a boat tonneau. Lovely fabric to work with, and it would be very suitable for rucksack material. Haven’t purchased any other stuff from them, but it’s worth keeping the link if you’re looking for what seem to be mostly heavier grade materials.

You need an ABN to purchase, and can’t purchase small quantities, although fabric is by the meter.

https://www.paskal.com.au/

The other place which I do frequent a lot, is Leffler.

They sell all sorts of leather, plus shoe making stuff. Leather will probably have limited interest to most of you, except the guy who was trying to repair the inside of his Scarpa boots! However, you can buy shoe glues, shoe soles, including some walking boot soles, and Topy for leather soled shoes - I used to pay some moron something like $70 to put Topy on my work shoe soles, and I can buy a pair from here with appropriate glue and do it myself for way less. Also boot eyelets, rivets, webbing, fasted style buckles, cones of thread. Note that if you join Leffler for a small fee, you get something like 20% off, and it’s a once off fee. Very worthwhile.

https://www.leffler.com.au/

You can MYO anything, but sourcing “raw materials” is the issue, hence my post.

Hope this stimulates some productivity. I’ve made most of my boat tonneau today, and have a couple of knives on the go, which will need leather sheaths. The dogs need new collars (Leffler buckles and leather), and I’m thinking of making a simple tote bag for interstate travel from the leftover weathermax fabric, and some leather for the handles.

Happy days!

A

Hi Andrewa, Thank you for this information it is very valuable as compared to that other term invaluable (NFVAL). Many years ago I needed to register a business name to purchase some of the first ripstop nylon made in Australia (for the second America Cup challenge, where they got such a fright from our first challenge that they changed the rules to prohibit US technology in our boats).
Is it difficult or costly to maintain register and maintain an ABN?

Please can you post a photo of your tonneau and a close-up of the fabric. I know that you are using a hot knife now, but a photo of a cut edge would also be good. Also, could you indicate the width and price/m? I will be interested to see how it stands up to weather exposure?
Great stuff, thanks again, Tim

The fabric was weathermax 80. It is about 2m wide and cost was about $45/m. Apparently you can buy it for $60+/ m from Whitworths boating at retail cost.

Cut edge gets pretty hard. I’m not near it atm, so can’t send a photo.

Did think it would be perfect fabric for water resilient pants for backcountry skiing, and maybe rucksacks. Beyond that, not much use.

If I was making clothes, I wouldn’t hot cut the edges, and I’d need a design to bury them. For other stuff, I would.

A