I"m just full of requests these last few days So I've got a couple Rand McNally street maps of the Seattle area, and I was wondering if anyone knows of a way to cover them so I can write on them, but without laminating them. I was thinking about some type of clear plastic slip cover thing, but an online search revealed nothing. Any ideas?

If you are looking to do some quick and dirty lamination on the cheap I would recommend getting a roll of clear shipping tape. If you apply it carefully it shouldn't make it any harder to read. Just make sure to test your marker/tape combination before you cover the map. If you are looking for something a little more upscale there are plenty of plastic covers you can buy for a map but many of these are surprisingly expensive for a piece of plastic. Most I have seen are somewhere in the 20-30 dollar range. If you've got the scratch they look pretty handy and are available online. Any good outdoor store will have some also.

Edit- Here is a link to a roll of do it yourself laminate. Its $40 and shipping is free. It looks like it is a pretty large roll, so you may find a smaller one cheaper, but this is the first one I found.

$20-30, dang. The self-laminate doesn't look bad. It would be cheaper than having it done in the long run. I wonder how well it takes? I need something durable, since the maps have to travel every weekend. Thanks for the link.

No sweat. Once the laminate has been applied you wont be able to fold it without out creasing it permantely. It should stand up to any regular abuse just fine. What this stuff is, for the most part, is a giant piece of tape that you put on both sides of the map. What I recommend is getting yourself a big table and unroll enough of this stuff to cover the map with about a half inch left sticking out on every side. Remove the backing material and lay the sticky side up. Then put the map down in the center. Fold the excess material back onto the top of the map. Then repeat with the other side. The little fold on the edges will go a long way towards protecting the map.

Edit- Alternately you could take twice the material it would take to cover one side and fold the material over the map kind of like a clamshell. This will give you one super edge and three puny mortal edges. You could repeat this process three more times and end up with a nigh-indestructable monument to cartography. Obviously this will take a lot of material and quite a bit of effort, this stuff is very unforgiving. Do-it-yourself laminate, she is a harsh mistress.

Go to walmart and get a roll of contatct paper. It does wonders. I used to use it to laminate the covers of my old SR2 books.

Don

Or just go to the craft section of [insert favorite megastore] and get 2 sheets of clear plastic big enough to cover said map and sandwich the map between them. The plastic sticks to itself fairly well and you can seperate as need be to clean those pesky dry erase spots that don't erase so well.

Also, check Brigade Quartermaster, they sell markable map sleeves that are military surplus. pretty handy stuff.

KillaJ, I have to concur with Diesel, the image in my mind is dumbfounding, which would explain some things about me I guess.

Something that has worked okay for me, but will require the map to be cut up.

I have a couple of maps that I have done this to, I have made a small three ring binder with several sheet holders that are cheap, and simply cut the map up to fit. I then put a bit of an index at the front, for faster locating. Try it with a map that is mostly trashed already, and see if you like it. The cool aspect about this is you can use markers on those plastic page inserts without a problem and they can be reused if you move your campaign, just pull the old maps out and put the new ones in. Sort of like cheating on that harsh mistress that is Laminate

Or, drop an overhead sheet on the map and use an eraseable marker.

Really, any kind of plastic from Home Depot will do the trick.

-Siege

Another option is to get a sheet of thin plexiglass that will go over the top of your gaming table (if you play at home) and put the maps under there. If you need something portable, a clear plastic sheet that you lay down on top of the map will probably work.

Looking in ye local grocery store in the kitchen section for clear 'contact paper' (normall used to line kitchen shelves and cabinets) can also net you some usefull stuff. It's much tougher than the clear tape method. The tape tends to have pently of acid in it, thus eating away at the paper.

i know it's probably already done, but you also could use electronic maps. i got maps off the internet and saved them as gifs and mark them up in word or paint. works okay so far.

We use a 1/4 inch thick piece of plexiglass. Its 2 feet by 4 feet in length. From what I understand it was uhm, liberated, by a member of my group. I don't ask many questions about that.

Heh you know too much now.