The 16 year old marine canvas that covers the fishing deck had seen better days. I looked into having a custom replacement made and most places that were willing to make one had months long wait lists and the one phone estimate I got was around $1800 including visits to the boat. So I looked into what it would take to fix it up.
There were three major problems with my old canvas that has spent its life outside:
1 The seam thread down the center was blown out from the thread being old and sun damaged and the canvas pressure washed, so it was split right open for about 6 feet.
2 Someone was in a hurry to get off the canvas and pulled off the snaps on the outside side wall of the cabin and kept pulling when they got to the top. The top of the canvas has a thick cord on the roof edge that slide in a track across the top of the roof, no snaps, so they ended up tearing off about a foot of the canvas where it was stitched to the cord strip that slides in the roof track.
3 The canvas has shrunk, especially down at the transom and back of the boat, and some snaps no longer reach to snap the canvas on to the boat.
I got Tommy's Auto Upholstery to stitch up the blown seam, but they did not carry the marine canvas strip with the cord attached. I was able to find a Marine Canvas shop to remove and replace the cord strip for the roof track. Total cost all in for both jobs was $134.00. They were willing to take on a quick repair job between big jobs and both had it done in a couple of days.
That left the shrunken canvas that no longer allows some lower snaps to be snapped onto the boat. The marine canvas shop guy told me that the reason it shrinks is that it is taken off when wet and then allowed to dry out. If it is left to dry out while stretched out tight installed on the boat it won't shrink. Unfortunately it will be wet at times when we go out, take it off and throw it up front where it dries out over a number of hours. Most old marine canvas ends up shrinking and cannot be snapped down or ends up getting ripped while trying to force it on. Luckily for us no rips.
This looks like the solution: https://www.amazon.com/boat-canvas-snap-extenders/s?k=boat+canvas+snap+extenders
I need a few in various sizes.
We also end up each spring, drilling out 1 to 3 of the rivets holding the snaps onto the hull and screwing in replacements each year as they wear out over time.
Anyone spray the canvas to protect it and if so with what? Any other ideas for canvas repair and maintenance? Ours always looks like crap before we clean it at the end of the winter, with green algae and bird crap etc. on it.
There were three major problems with my old canvas that has spent its life outside:
1 The seam thread down the center was blown out from the thread being old and sun damaged and the canvas pressure washed, so it was split right open for about 6 feet.
2 Someone was in a hurry to get off the canvas and pulled off the snaps on the outside side wall of the cabin and kept pulling when they got to the top. The top of the canvas has a thick cord on the roof edge that slide in a track across the top of the roof, no snaps, so they ended up tearing off about a foot of the canvas where it was stitched to the cord strip that slides in the roof track.
3 The canvas has shrunk, especially down at the transom and back of the boat, and some snaps no longer reach to snap the canvas on to the boat.
I got Tommy's Auto Upholstery to stitch up the blown seam, but they did not carry the marine canvas strip with the cord attached. I was able to find a Marine Canvas shop to remove and replace the cord strip for the roof track. Total cost all in for both jobs was $134.00. They were willing to take on a quick repair job between big jobs and both had it done in a couple of days.
That left the shrunken canvas that no longer allows some lower snaps to be snapped onto the boat. The marine canvas shop guy told me that the reason it shrinks is that it is taken off when wet and then allowed to dry out. If it is left to dry out while stretched out tight installed on the boat it won't shrink. Unfortunately it will be wet at times when we go out, take it off and throw it up front where it dries out over a number of hours. Most old marine canvas ends up shrinking and cannot be snapped down or ends up getting ripped while trying to force it on. Luckily for us no rips.
This looks like the solution: https://www.amazon.com/boat-canvas-snap-extenders/s?k=boat+canvas+snap+extenders
I need a few in various sizes.
We also end up each spring, drilling out 1 to 3 of the rivets holding the snaps onto the hull and screwing in replacements each year as they wear out over time.
Anyone spray the canvas to protect it and if so with what? Any other ideas for canvas repair and maintenance? Ours always looks like crap before we clean it at the end of the winter, with green algae and bird crap etc. on it.
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