Recanvas STL Arrowhead

[Treewater]

Bought this Arrowhead in 2008 off Ebay. Fellow in Ohio had restored it with lots of repairs and new canvas. Unfortunately, after four years use the canvas rotted. I was not knowledgeable enough to ask at the time if any sort of mildew treatment was used when he re-canvassed. Thus, I learn the hard way.

Stretched #10 duck and for the first time used stainless staples instead of tacks. Lots easier. Also since the stems were badly split from too many canvas jobs, I used a marine wood filer, a two part process, to fill rather than replace the well splintered stems. Very happy with that decision even it was expensive. After the canvas was stretched I applied a mold control from Lowes. $30/gallon but if you work it on slow a small amount at a time you don't loose much. Seems this product has a high surface tension and wants to roll right off the canvas and most of it ends up on the floor. Next time I'll try spraying it on but I only used a third of a gallon at that. It saturates the canvas and shrinks it too so at last I have what appears to be a wrinkle free canvas job that will hopefully not rot in four years.

I'm researching the filler formulas now for the next step.

 

[Dave Osborn]

Tree,
It's not the product that has the high surface tension..... It's the sizing on the canvas.
Sizing is a "coating" on the fabric. It's used to help during manufacturing of the canvas.
Anybody know how to break down the sizing to get waterborne absorption easier?

 

[yelnif]

Tree,
It's not the product that has the high surface tension..... It's the sizing on the canvas.
Sizing is a "coating" on the fabric. It's used to help during manufacturing of the canvas.
Anybody know how to break down the sizing to get waterborne absorption easier?

Wash the canvas at your local laundry mat in the big machine then dry in the big dryer- this will shrink the canvas so you can stretch it tight on the canoe.

 

[Dave Osborn]

I once washed canvas scraps to remove the sizing and hoped they'd make good rags......
Well..... I got a giant ball of tangled cloth. Can't imagine washing and drying 18'-20' of canvas to stretch on a canoe!
Guess I've been stretching canvas for nearly 20 years without shrinking it....with no issues. Probably gonna stick with what works...
Having said that....my processes continue to evolve..for the better, so who knows what may happen!