What's INSIDE a Kendrick Dew heater ?

I recently made an insulated aluminium dew shield for my LX200 which works
really well. The only problem with it is that now my Kendrick dew heater
gets in the way as I slide the dew shield tube down over the OTA.

I could make up a nichrome based heating element that would fit inside the
corrector plate mounting and solve the problem, but when I was playing
around with the heater strap today, it felt as if the actual heating element
itself is a flexible rubber strip. If this was the case, then I could just
take the fabric covering off the heater and simply use the rubber strip
itself as the lower profile would allow the dew shield to slide past.

So - before I go and hack up a perfectly good heater, does anyone know what
is inside these and if it would be possible to use without the fabric
covering ?

Thanks,

Alasdair