: I tried to iron out some creases in a cheapo poly rug several months ago and
: melted it. Wouldn't a hairdryer or heat gun work better? Or is ironing the
: preferred method? Could you provide more details on the process/technique?
: I've heard canvas tightens up better when put in the water. Are the
: synthetics tight enough? taz

I'm not sure if the hair dryer has enough umph. Maybe a professional heat gun like Spidey was using to bend strips with. Ironing works really well. I never got to the point of melting the fabric, although it did smoke a little at one point .

I applied the fabric on a bias with heat-n-bond glue tape. This is a paper tape with a heat activated glue on one side. On the gunwales I ran the iron (on low setting) over the paper portion of the tape sticking it to the frame. Then I pealed off the paper leaving only the glue on the frame. Then the fabric goes on. At a higher temp, the iron is used to bond the fabric to the glue and frame. As I did this, I pulled the fabric as tight as possible by hand. Once everything was glued down, you lightly run the iron (at still higher temps) flat on the fabric. You can see the stuff shrink right up. The amount of shrink depends on the fabric. Once that was done for the whole surface, I used a wood burning tool to cut off the excess fabric. The only draw back was my cheap iron which sometimes left blackish rub marks on high points of the skin. This could be because I got some of the glue on the iron surface. Also a teflon coated iron may do better. The end result is fabric which is drum tight. Before ironing, I could press a dent into the skin and have it remain. After ironing, I couldn't. It also seems that the urethane increases the taughtness too, but that could be my imagination.

Bill