Reviving my canvas...

[Iain C]

The C&J sprayhood and stackpack on my Bav32 are needing a bit of a sort out. I guess they are 14 years old now and needing some maintenance.

I've applied Boracol to kill the "green" and hopefully keep it killed for a while. I've then removed all the canvas from the boat (promptly splitting 2 out of 3 windows that had looked OK!), given it a good clean with Renovo Canvas Cleaner and a scrubbing brush, and dropped it off at a narrowboat canvas place near me (cheaper and more convenient than a yachty place). They will replace all the windows and any UV damaged stitching. They have said that the canvas itself is in good order with plenty life left, although it does look a teeny little bit faded in places.

I've got two questions on what to do when I get it back from the repairers...

1-I have a 500ml bottle of Renovo Blue Canvas Reviver. The instructions say "make sure you have enough to do all your canvas to avoid streaks/joins etc" but don't give any coverage guidelines. If anyone has done this, is half a litre enough to do a B32 sprayhood and stackpack?

2-When I've applied the Reviver, I want to re-proof it. Options are Renovo Ultra Proofer, which I'd need to buy, or Fabsil, of which I already have plenty. Does anyone have a view on which is the better product? Obviously this is all costing me quite a bit anyway, so I want to use the best product to protect the expensive canvas rather than saving a few quid.

Thanks!

 

[billcole]

1-I have a 500ml bottle of Renovo Blue Canvas Reviver. The instructions say "make sure you have enough to do all your canvas to avoid streaks/joins etc" but don't give any coverage guidelines. If anyone has done this, is half a litre enough to do a B32 sprayhood and stackpack?

I've not done a sprayhood, but a few years ago I used Renovo to change the colour of a garden umbrella.
It was green, and I wanted it to be teal colour, so I mixed 500ml of blue with 500ml of green, and the resulting litre was just about enough to get a mainly even colour on the umbrella (which is about 2.2m diameter) with two coats and some extra dabs on patches after the second coat.
If I'd had enough left over for a third coat I would have used it, but the results weren't patchy enough to be worth buying 2 more bottles, and it's faded to a fairly even colour now, after a few years.

For avoiding yachty prices you could also check out stuff sold for re-proofing car soft-tops ?

 

[ashtead]

You might want to check if the Fabsil will cause any adverse effects to your replacement windows . Personally if I was keeping the hood I would do all the cleaning and reproffing before having new plastic fitted . If it's all at the canvas place already would they be prepared to reproof for you ? Congratulations BTW on making a C& J sprayhood last so long as to be honest any service after 14 years is a bonus I would say as a former Bav 34 owner. The current Clipper guys use another supplier now based in Gosport called Tecsew and if you need to replace in future you might want to check out their website

 

[matthewriches]

I used Fabsil and that got me another year out of the old canopy before I binned it. Last year I didn't have a canopy and hated it. New one currently being made.

 

[Seashoreman]

I have done exactly what you are considering and am very pleased with the results. I treated sprayhood, dodgers, stackpack and mast /stackpack cover. The originals were very light blue and fairly flimsy, the dodgers had the faded outline of the old name, this on a Leisure 23sl. I used Renovo dark blue, two coats. This was about 5 years ago so I can only guess at quantity used but I think was 1 litre for the lot. Does depend on size of sprayhood and absorbency I imagine. I would suggest buying another 500ml if you want a proper job, the cost is very little compared to replacement. Had windows replaced recently at Suffolk Sails, cost about £100.
The only thing that you may not like is after 2 coats the fabric stiffens up somewhat, its like a starch effect. This I quite like on the sprayhood, the dodgers are a bit like boards but that doesn't bother me.
I waterproofed with Fabsil which works and didn't seem to effect the material finish.
A very cost affective exercise for me and I reckon on getting a few more years out of this 'canvaswork'.