Renovating a Canvas Canoe

New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 123, 31 October 1941, Page 46

Renovating a Canvas Canoe

Dear Aunt Daisy, Our son, aged 15, has asked me to write to you.for advice. He is the proud owner of a very well-made canoe, the canvas of which has perished. He has removed it carefully, to enable a pattern to be cut front it, and I am going to make a new cover by joining several pieces of very thick new tenting material. He doesn’t want to use tar, as it makes the canoe far too heavy, and would like to know the best method of making it reliably waterproof. My idea is to paint both sides of the material with raw linseed oil (after sewing it into shape), then put it on to the canoe, and lastly give one or more coats of ordinary paint. Do you know a better way? -"Just a Link’ (Wanganui). Your proposed method of waterproofting the newly covered canoe seems pretty good, according to an expert whom I consulted. He said, however, that in his opinion, two coats of good

house paint should be sufficient, without first painting with linseed oil, Another Link in the Daisy Chain (which can always be relied upon for help and suggestions) sent in the following Trade Recipes: Waterproofing a Canvas Tent.-Mix together 2 ounces of terebene, and 1 quart of boiled oil, and apply to the canvas. Allow it to dry in the sun for two days, when it should be perfectly waterproof. er Waterproofing Calico (Transparent Waterproot).-Three pints of pale linseed oil; 1 ounce of sugar of lead; and four ounces of white resin. Grind the sugar of lead with a small quantity of the resin, then mix well with the remainder, Gently warm the resin in the oil, to make them mix well together. Apply the composition to the calico with a bush.