Inspecting Your Marine Canvas

With summer around the corner, now is a good time to check out your boat's canvas and make sure it's ready for the water. There's nothing as aggravating as having a major failure of some part of your boat while underway, and that includes your marine canvas.

Here's a few steps you can take to make sure your bimini top, dodger, boat cover, or clear vinyl enclosure is seaworthy.

U.S. Marine Canvas can take care of any of the following repairs or maintenance issues you may have.

Call or text us at 386-983-2470 or email me at burt@usmarinecanvas.com for service. Visit our website: www.usmarinecanvas.com

Check the Stitching

Most marine canvas is not sewn with thread that is truly ultra-violet (UV) resistant. The most common threads used by canvas shops are treated with UV inhibitors that leach or wash out due to heavy weather exposure.

The best way to check the stitching is to try pulling the seams apart by hand. You can also try pulling the zippers away from the fabric of your enclosure curtains. And don't forget to check the pockets that hold your bimini top to your frame, these usually are the first seams to fall apart.

If any of the stitching or canvas is coming loose, get your canvas re-stitched before hitting the water. Make sure your top is re-stitched with a PTFE  thread, which is inherently UV resistant and will usually last the life of your canvas. Some trade names to look for are Tenara, SolarFix, and Solar Thread.

Zippers

Zippers, notorious for their short life span, are usually the highest maintenance item in marine canvas. YKK now adds UV inhibitors to their zippers during manufacturing, resulting in longer life. Black zippers generally last longer than white zippers because the carbon added to them for color makes them highly resistant to the suns rays.

To test your zippers, run your fingernail along the zipper teeth. If you see any flaking or gritty substance on your finger, the zipper needs to be replaced.

Check your zipper slides as well. They should move freely along the length of the zipper with little resistance. Corroded or frozen zipper slides need to be replaced. Sticky zippers can benefit from lubricants like petroleum jelly or Star Brite Snap and Zipper Lubricant.

Never use silicone based lubricants on your plastic zippers. They may temporarily make it easier to zip your canvas shut, but silicone breaks down the plastic teeth and shortens the life of your zippers drastically.

Canvas

Woven marine canvas fabrics like Sunbrella are water-resistant when new, not waterproof. After a few seasons in the sun, the water-resistant barrier breaks down and water can soak through your bimini top or boat cover.

If water is coming through your top or cover, it's time to waterproof your canvas. Since Sunbrella and other woven synthetics resist silicone, only waterproofing applications designed for Sunbrella  should be used. The local canvas shop can usually handle this project best. For do-it-yourself, try 303 High Tech fabric Guard or Star Brite Waterproofing.

Also check the strength of your fabric by pinching two sections of your canvas and then try ripping them like you would a piece of paper. If your canvas tears even slightly, you need new canvas, patching it is no longer an option.

Clear Vinyl

The clear vinyl curtains on your boat should not only protect you from the weather, but give you good visibility while underway. The sun is the biggest enemy of your clear vinyl, as it leaches out the plasticizers that keep it clear and flexible, which also results in shrinkage over the years.

Any clear vinyl that is browned or cracked is irreparable. Permanently damaged glass can sometimes be replaced while leaving the canvas trim in place, saving you time and money. Remember that replacing shrunken clear vinyl with new vinyl will result in even tighter curtains as the new vinyl ages and shrinks.

If your glass is cloudy or hazed, it may just be moisture trapped in the glass (which is more porous than you think). To correct this, leave your canvas up for several days with good sun exposure, and do not roll it up during this time. Never leave your wet clear vinyl rolled up for very long as the concentrated heat of the sun's rays can drive the moisture into your vinyl.

Small scratches and imperfections can be treated with polishers specially designed for clear vinyl, such as Meguiars or similar products. Most of these polishes also help restore the plasticizers that have leached out over time.

For Strataglass or O'Sea vinyls, IMAR is the recommended cleaner and this can also be used for all of your clear vinyl weather curtains.

Snaps and Hardware

Look at all of your snaps and other fasteners holding your canvas to the boat. Keeping them lubricated with petroleum jelly or Star Brite Snap and Zipper Lubricant will help them last longer and function properly.

Any damaged hardware should be replaced immediately as the failure of one fastener puts extra stress on the fasteners adjacent to it. You'll probably have to go to a local marine canvas shop to fix these items since special tools may be required to repair them properly.

If you need any of these repairs handled professionally and quickly, call or text us at 386-983-2470 or email me at burt@usmarinecanvas.com for service. Visit our website: www.usmarinecanvas.com

Strataglass Review

Strataglass^TM is one of the most widely marketed clear vinyls for curtains and weather enclosures in the marine industry. The chief characteristic that attracts boat owners to Strataglass is it's resistance to scratches and abrasions that would otherwise mar the standard press-polished clear vinyls.

Strataglass achieves this scratch resistance by applying a scratch-resistant urethane film on both sides of a clear sheet of vinyl, which can be purchased in 20, 30, 40, and 60 mil thicknesses. It is claimed that this process increases clarity, durability, UV protection, and better runoff of particulate matter.

I've used Strataglass since it was introduced in the early 90's and the original product then offered was a far superior product to the standard press-polished sheets of clear vinyl that are used in the majority of boat enclosures. From my experience and observation, the modern Strataglass product does not hold up as well as the original formulation and in the long run is inferior to press-polished sheets in clarity, which is the most important characteristic a weather curtain must possess. There is a noticeable deterioration of the clarity of Strataglass within about a year or two of installation and there is no remedy for this because the urethane coating prevents any remedies from being applied to the inner glass where the cause of the problem is. In one case, an enclosure I made from Strataglass actually turned dark brown within three years of fabrication, indicating a severe flaw in that particular batch of Strataglass.

As a result, I stopped using Strataglass several years ago and highly recommend my customers avoid buying any Strataglass clear vinyl for their boat, although Strataglass' Crystal Clear 20/20 (a press-polished sheet without the urethane film) is perfectly acceptable for most marine canvas use.

One thing to keep in mind is that southern climates such as that found in Florida and the Caribbean islands tend to degrade marine vinyls more quickly than in northern climates where there is significantly less UV exposure.  Your personal experience with Strataglass may be different that what I've seen in the Florida coastline area.

There are several options to consider besides using Strataglass.

The first is to use the standard press-polished sheets of clear vinyl. Although not scratch-resistant, this vinyl maintains very good clarity when properly maintained and is easier on the wallet. Regalite^TM is my preferred brand for this vinyl, and there are other similar products on the market.

The second option is to use O'Sea^TM brand clear vinyl. O'Sea vinyl offers an excellent scratch-resistant barrier that improves stain and chemical resistance. O'Sea is the best choice for people looking for the next step up in performance of their marine weather enclosures.

Another option is to use a rigid clear enclosure instead of using flexible clear vinyls. These kind of enclosures are usually made from polycarbonate, plexiglass or acrylic sheets and are significantly more expensive then the flexible clear vinyls. However, the clarity is unsurpassed in these windows. The three major drawbacks to using rigid clear windows is creating airflow, finding storage if necessary, and adherence of the soft trim to the glass, which has to be attached to the glass with special adhesives. In the last case, failure of the adhesive, which is usually a workmanship defect, is not immediately apparent upon installation.

Feel free to send any questions or comments to burt@usmarinecanvas.com.

About Us

Thanks for looking up our website. U.S. Marine Canvas, located in historic St. Augustine, FL, is your complete source for all the canvas and upholstery products you need to make your sailboat or power boat perfect.

Whether you need a custom canvas job or need the supplies to do-it-yourself, you are in the right place. Even if you don't sew, we can do your job remotely with our "Canvas-In-A-Box" kit and instructional videos no matter where you live.

The owner of U.S. Marine Canvas is Burt Noyes, who has been setting the standard in boat canvas tops and covers since 1981.  Burt Noyes has continually striven to improve the performance and durability of marine canvas products while enhancing the beauty of his clients' boats.  Many of the techniques found in the marine canvas industry today were pioneered and perfected by Burt Noyes while plying the trade in Tampa and Daytona Beach, FL.

Our commitment to service and quality will never be matched. Ever.

Our online store for retail customers will be up and running soon as well as our MarineCanvasTV channel on YouTube with helpful videos for do-it-yourself boat enthusiasts.