Canopy Restoration

[GrantS]

Hi All,

Once i have sorted my hot water out, i shall be giving the canopy a clean and then using the old Fabsil on it again to waterproof it.

(I'm pretty sure mine is an Acrylic Canvas type.) Similar to Sunbrella ??

One of the things that i also would like to do this year, is to make the colour of the canopy a slightly darker blue than it is now.

I think the sun, over the years has made it a lighter blue than it originally was.

I have found this product on the net, but not sure if its suitable or not, as it just mentions Canvas.

http://www.boatsheen.com/restore-boat-covers.html

Has anybody used this or anything else to restore or change their canopy colour.

Also, if you have, what were the results from doing it.

Thanks

[ranworthbreeze]

Hello GrantS,

I have not used Renovo on our canopy, I only scrubbed ours and poofed it using Fabsil a few weeks ago, before the start of the season the weather was against us and aparts from a couple of good weeks has been poor up to now.

Renovo is widely known as a car hood cleaner, reviver and proofer, I bought some fo my Sabb convertible. The reviver is put on using a paint brush and colours the canvas in a uniform shade of colour.

Renovo is available in a canvas & Vinyl version, I bought mine as a kit that included the cleaner, reviver and proofer from Ebay.

Please let us have your results if you use this product on your canopy, I am sure we will all be interested.

Regards

Alan

[GrantS]

Okay, thanks Alan.

If go ahead with this stuff, i will let you know.

One of the main problems will be the weather, as i have read that you can't get it wet until it has dried and that you shouldn't do it when its sunny , as it will dry too quickly.

This bit concerns me, as it doesn't leave a lot to get the perfect day to do it.

[ranworthbreeze]

Hello GrantS,

I know what you mean I only just managed the 5 hours drying time when I did our canopy with Fabsil proofer when we overnighted at Loddon Staite.

The other option is to remove the canopy and try to do the work indoors in a garage or workshop.

When we went down to the boat to ready Ranworth Breeze for the start of the season it was on a launch cradle, it should have been in the river for engine trials but would not launch due to the shortage of water in late February, needless to say the weekend we picked it rained all weekend so all we could do was mostly indoor work or braving the weather for the odd job.

To give you an idea how much it took to fully proof our canopy (quite large) it took almost a 2.5 litre can of Fabsil using a sponge.

Regards,

Alan

[Guest]

I don't have any experience of Renovo, but I agree with the suggestions that any major cleaning and reproofing is far better done off the boat.

I pressure wash my acrylic canvas canopy (Jeckells) every other year, and the saturate it with 4.5 litres of fabsil in three coats, then wax the zips.

It's so much easier doing it with the canopy laying flat on the ground (my gravel driveway). I apply the fabsil with a 4" brush. Trying to do it on the boat is a much more lengthy process, and yet it still then drips onto the polished white GRP topsides and then needs cleaning off of that.

It's usually quite easy and cheap to fit some sort of temporary tarpaulin cover over the cockpit while the canopy is being worked on.

There is sometimes a problem with the process "tightening" the canopy up a bit with the proofing and drying done off the boat, but it soon stretches back to size after a day or two.

[mbird]

Hi Grant, good to see you over the weekend.

From personal experience I would say don't bother with anything like Renovo etc to try to alter the colour or a canopy. The original one we had on Serenity was quite faded, so I spent about £50 on the Renovo restorer only to end up with a very patchy finish. It was impossible to get a nice even colour I found, no matter how many coats of the stuff I applied.

With regard to the Fabsil application, I tend to favour applying it with a small foam roller. Just like antifoul, it tends to attach the roller, so you do need a few of them to hand, but it has always gone on well for me, with minimum dripping. It's worth carrying a can of the aerosol stuff too, just to touch up the seems a couple of times a year.

[GrantS]

I think i'm starting to go off the idea already, especially seeing as mark has already tried this stuff and found it it be patchy with the colouration.

That was something i was also afraid of myself, because if the cleaning process that is recommended before applying this stuff doesn't remove any previous waterproofing application fully, then it may not soak in properly.

This could give you patchy results.... and once you have started it, its too late to stop.

I have read some reveiws from people on the net (2 of then were on Amazon) and they highly rated the product.

However, its better when you get a reveiw of a product from somebody you know has treid it.

Mark, thanks for showing me around your new boat on saturday and it was great to see you. It was also nice to catch up with the gang again.

Thanks Guys