Canvas waterproofing

[Mary Fisher]

We're making another sales booth because he's not happy with the one we have :-(

He's made the frame and we've sourced samples of cotton canvas which will be light enough for us to manage but will need to be waterproofed just in case it ever rains ...

The last time we did this we used a product (name forgotten) which was excellent but it made the canvas heavy and slightly sticky, also smelly.

He's prepared to use NikWax but is fondly remembering a water soluble preparation from a hundred years ago called, he thinks, NevRot - or something similar.

Does anyone remember the stuff or know if it is still available?

Mary

[Phil L]

I got some for waterproofing tents, it was in a pump handled sprayer (not an aerosol) and it was water based - I used it for my cotton fishing umbrella and it's never allowed a drop of water through, nor does it smell or leave a visible residue....I got it from a camping shop, I'll try and dig out the half bottle I have left over and get you the name of it....

[Mary Fisher]

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

I used to wax my umbrella with a candle.

[Phil L]

It's Nikwax, as mentioned by your hubby...it's still available and I got mine from Millets:

you don't have a Millets store, there's an outlet locator here:

[Mary Fisher]

Ah, I suspected it might be :-)

It is good, we've used it several times in the past. It's very easy to get too, but thanks for your input. It's just that he got all dewy-eyed thinking of his happy tenting days in the 1940s.

Mary

[Mark Spice]

Just make sure you get the cottonproof stuff and the wax for boots :-). I always used to use Fabsil which you could get in small bottles or multi-litre containers. Just put the tent up, paint on the gunk and leave to dry, job done.

Cheers

Mark

[Chris Bacon]

Smear it with lard.

[Guy King]

The message from Chris Bacon contains these words:

And have all the rats licking the tent all night. Hmmm.

[Mary Fisher]

I wouldn't mind using Bacon fat, it would be worth the rats ...

[Owain]

Better licking the tent than nibbling toes.

Owain

[Pete C]

Neetsfoot oil is great for waterproofing, stick and smelly, but AFAIK only used for leather.

If it's water soluble it won't be much good for waterproofing, will it? :)))

cheers, Pete.

[Mary Fisher]

...

Neatsfoot oil is used to soften leather, not for waterproofing! We've used it a lot for that, we don't find it sticky (it's rather thin) and it doesn't smell bad.

Yes it is. NikWax, is put on wet and allowed to dry, whether on canvas, leather, suede or anything else. In fact on footwear the item has to be wet first.

Sounds odd, I know, but it works.

Others who've used it would say the same.

Go to

and follow any of the many links.

Mary

[Phil L]

The water is only the 'carrier' of the active ingredients, once the water evapourates, the waterproofing agents are left behind. I've used it recently on an ancient cotton fishing umbrella which I found in a skip and it's never leaked once....I have a 'newish' umbrella too, made of some kind of pvc fabric, but I treated the old one to keep as a spare (in case of a high wind/deep water related disaster)

[Pete C]

I used it on a leather jacket once. Kept me dry on a bike going from London to Cornwall - in pouring rain :(((

Messy stuff though, comes out of the leather like polish does, if too much is used. Might not have used it if I'd know it was boiled up shinbone or some such...

I stand and sit corrected!

cheers, Pete.

[zikkimalambo]

I thought with cotton canvas you were supposed to water it when new so that the fibres swell and make it waterproof. Iseem to remember that's what was done with tents in the olden times.

[manatbandq]

Fabsil

MBQ

[Mary Fisher]

But as it dries the fibres shrink again :-)

Closely woven canvas will withstand a certain amount of rain on its surface because of that property but if it's touched on the inner surface the water will come through.

Mary

>

[Bob Mannix]

The watering of new canvas tents was to induce the one-off shrinkage (irreversible) which will tighten up the fibres and make them more water resistant for their life (the swelling when wet is mostly non-existent or irrelevant).

Touching the insides of wet canvas tents is (as Mary suggests) a Bad Idea as the surface tension of the water and the weave granularity of the canvas (minimised by what shrinkage was available) is what makes them impermeable(ish). Touching the inside with (especially greasy) fingers will affect the surface tension of the water trying to move through the canvas so that it can.

Extra waterproofing for canvas tents is best provided by spraying (when erected and dry) tents with a proprietary product such as Fabsil, a silicone spray treatment and leaving it to dry. Fabsil is available in gallon containers from good camping shops etc. It turns grass black, which is a bummer if on your lawn and I use a garden sprayer. The sprayer can be cleaned by spraying through with a bit of white spirit followed by water but reserving an old sprayer for this use is advisable.

[Bob Mannix]

I should have added that wetting new canvas tents to tighten the fabric must only be done if they are fully erected and pegged out. This prevents dimension shrinkage while allowing tightening of the fabric. If you don't do this, putting up the tent may become problematic!

Bob Mannix (wearing Scout Group Quartermaster's hat) (anti-spam is as easy as 1-2-3 - not)