5/16 taps

[cur dog]

Does anyone make a 5/16 alluminum or stainless spout and hook that works with buckets and flat covers? All I can find is the plastic spouts, and I'm not sure if they work with the flat covers. Thanks guys.

[KenWP]

The 5/16 plastic ones I have work with the flat covers.They are a pretty blue plastic and seem to work okay but very expensive to buy.Way more then the metal ones.

[3rdgen.maple]

The aluminum 5/16 I have I put on the drill press and drilled through that shark fin looking hunk of metal on the top to put the wire through for the flat covers. Works good but personally I stopped using covers as I think they are a bigger pain in the butt than they are worth. Too many times rain just follows down the tree and on the tap into the bucket anyways, and if those covers touch the end of the spout you will find empty buckets as the sap runs right down the inside of the cover and on the ground.

[Fred Henderson]

I got 400 of those aluminum hookless spouts in 5/16 if anyone wants to buy a few. $1.75 ea. Also have a lot of cast iron ones 7/16 $.75 ea.

[Flat47]

I drilled mine, too, to work with flat covers. Trouble is, then I had to use hook and the hook set the bucket out too far. The sap was drooling down the side of the bucket. So I had to use some "spacers" made from Pex tubing to keep the hook closer to the tree. I'd gladly trade my flat covers for rounded, slip-on ones.