Once again a lesson from the school of hard knocks. I was pin striping the deck cover down on a sailboat hull, and within a hour or so, the pin striping started coming loose. I cleaned the decking material and hull of any dirt and grease, but still no luck.
After thinking about my problem for a while, I decided to do a test and observe the problem in process. Again I cleaned the decking and hull with soapy water, and let it dry. Next I laid down a 2-ft strip of pin stripe tape at the area where the tape comes up the most.
Before I tell my observations, I will give a short reason why I use pin stripe tape, what kind I'm using, and how I'm using it. The reason to use pin stripe tape to help seal out water from getting in the hull between the decking material and hull. Next I'm using 1/4 inch pin striping tape which I apply 50% on the deck and 50% on the hull.
Now the results of my observations. It was not long after I applied the pin striping tape, I noticed the tape starting to bubble up right at the corner of the deck and hull. Not long after, I saw the pin striping tape 'spring' up from either the deck or hull! The tape was new so the adhesive was good. I re-applied the tape and made sure there was no tension in the tape when put it down again. Still, it happened again.
So there I sat watching this happen, wondering why. Then it occurred to me, there was not enough tape being applied on either side of the hull's corner to keep the tape stuck down. Not enough tape and because the spring in the tape, no way will the tape work.
The solution was simple, use wider pin striping tape. Instead of 1/4 inch tape I now use 1/2 inch tape with success! Now with 1/4 inch of tape on both the decking and hull, I no longer have problems with pin stripe tape coming loose.
So now with all the water washing against it, with the Arizona sun beating down on it, and the sailboat sitting in my garage which acts like an oven in 110 + degree summer heat, still no problems. You can't beat that.