5/24/17 Update – After about a year of this repair in the outdoors, I can say that Gorilla Tape on the Weber Grill cover is a good short term fix but is NOT a long term fix. The tape, in several places of the grill cover, has begun to peel away. Consequently, I have my eye on a new grill cover.
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I recently came into ownership of a used Weber Spirit E-210 grill. My in-laws were buying a new grill and getting rid of their aging Weber. With my Weber still in storage, I saw a good opportunity to get another Weber gas grill. With my Wife and Father-In-Law’s help we wrestled it into my Jeep Patriot.
Once I got it home and had a chance to get a good look at it, I determined it was in need of a good cleaning and some repair parts. The parts I needed are what I consider pretty common maintenance items (flavorizer bars and a starter/accumulator). With the parts ordered, I turned my attention to the grill cover. The grill came with a Weber branded cover and it was beginning to show signs of age. Good covers tend to run about $50 or more. So, I thought that I would try and fix the grill cover with stuff I had around the house. I had just paid for those repair parts and a propane tank and was frankly feeling a little thrifty about spending any more money on a new cover. In this post, I’ll show you how I repaired the aging cover.
Tools Needed
- Simple Green cleaner, lemon scent (we use the 1 gallon size and clean almost everything in our house with it).
- Scrub brush
- Black Gorilla® tape – the weather-resistant shell that withstands moisture, UV rays and temperature extremes seemed ideal for repair of the damaged grill cover.
- Scissors
Grill Cover Damage
Accessing the damage it looked like most of the areas of concern were along the seams on either side of the center panel.
It appeared that over the life of the cover the thread used to secure the two panels failed in combination with a delamination of the top layer of the cover from the base material. I don’t have ready access to a sewing machine or, skill at sewing like this dad. So, I decided on my course of action.
- Clean the cover – cleaning would give the best surface for the tape to adhere.
- Turn it inside out and then, use the tape to re-secure the inside seams. Applying as little tape as possible to the outside.
Cleaning the Grill Cover
Our townhouse for some reason has NO exterior hose bibs. So, what do you do? Give the cover a good shake and drop it into the bathtub.
Below, I have sprayed on some Simple Green and started to run some water.
After spraying the cover well with Simple Green, I scrubbed it with the scrubbing brush and rinsed off both inside and out with our shower sprayer.
Drying the Grill Cover
An unused satellite dish makes the perfect drying rank for the cover. I think I had to turn it once to finish the drying but, with temps in the upper 80’s, it dried in no time.
Repairing the Grill Cover
So, now it’s time to get down to the business of repair. Turning the cover inside out reveals all the seams and a good place to make “invisible” repairs.
Here’s a close-up of one of the damaged seams.
Cut or, tear off a length of the Black Gorilla® tape and apply it to the seam. I ran tape further down the seam to guard against future separation.
Returning Grill Cover to Use
Despite applying tape to the inside seams it was still necessary in a few areas to apply tape to the exterior. The one area on top at the center is where the exterior layer is separating from the inside layer. So, I added some tape there. The final product isn’t the completely invisible look I had in mind. But, the black of the Gorilla tape is a great match for the cover.
I am very happy with the end result and hope this post may have inspired you. What are some creative uses for duct tape that you have completed around your home? Let me know in the comments below.
