Yeah, the fabric being used has crossed my mind as one likely culprit. The previous linen cloth used was a clothing/upholstery fabric, but it wasn't sewn on nearly as tightly as the polyester. I had originally thought that perhaps I did not pull enough longitudinal tension in the linen, so I stretched the polyester by more than double (almost 9"). I didn't try to shrink the polyester since I was able to sew it on so tightly, but I can't see why NOT using an iron on it would cause it to wrinkle if its tight to begin with. Polyester (no matter what the intended end use) should be dimensionally stable enough not to loosen, or so I thought.

I've been recoating as soon as the previous coat is dry to the touch, regardless of the polyurethane brand. Since the loosening happened after the second coat in both cases, I'm thinking that may be the cause.

I won't be so gung ho to reskin it this time, perhaps it will smooth out somewhat as its allowed to rest for a while...? I've also thought about using the iron on it now to see if it would tighten up, but I don't want to melt the coating and make a huge mess when it functions just fine as-is.

At any rate, I'm going to add the deck lines and use it for a while instead of working on it!

: That's liable to be one of the problems you're having. I use polyester fabric
: also for covering boats but it's aircraft dacron that can be heat shrunk.
: Yes it's quite a bit more expensive than that used for clothing, but it's
: also uncoated and untreated and intended for a similiar use and is stable
: under a variety of coatings.

: I also wonder if you've allowed the first coating (Zar) to dry completely
: before you added the next coat.

: Course this isn't going to fix the problem you're now having, sorry. Boat is
: very pretty and I think worth the work you're doing

: Bill H.