If your worried about touching convert it to back heat. The only belly heat racks i have are my freedom breeders but they have metal panels that protect the flexwatt and the panels dont touch the tubs. My vision racks use heat cords that dont come in contact with the tubs. as long as you use flexwatt for belly heat that comes into contact with sliding tubs you will have wear and tear. Also if you are covering the heat tape with aluminum tape this can cause other issues as hot spots, failure, etc. Never cover the entire heat source with tape.