I'm ready to skin a Greenland skin boat and did a lot of research. I went with polyester. Many people who are using canvas are using water based house paints because of the flexability. The oil based house paint seems to always crack in the second or third year.

As far as linseed oil, the boiled variety is what is recommended rather than non-boiled because of drying -the non-boiled never seems to dry. Many people are using Thompson water seal and similiar things like that to coat the inside of the canvas after it's skinned - sprayed it in with a garaden sprayer.

I don't want to deal with rot etc so I'm going with the polyester. It's not heat shrink but it won't losten with dampness like the shrinkable nylon. I'm getting it from Dyson Bardarka at $2. a running ft. x 56" I will coat the outside wih polyurathane. there's one available with UV inhibitors. Or I might go with spar varn mixed with a bit of linseed oil to increase flexability and some oil paint for color.