: On my last skinning job, I somehow screwed up and cut the fabric
: too short along the middle of the fore and aft deck. I pulled
: some huge holes in it, pulling it close enough to stitch up. One
: hole/pulled area was about the size of a quarter. I used dental
: floss to "weave" it back together -- think what the
: web of a drunk spider would look like. The cris-crossing floss
: provided a little more support for the goo. After that, standard
: varnish/painting.

: BTW, I think my mistake was in not pinning the fabric to the keel
: when I pulled it across the decks to trim along a batten-guide.
: I think I must have pulled the fabric across the batten to the
: point where it slipped around the keel. Odd it only occurred in
: the middle third of each deck, it was right at the ends, and
: nearer the cockpit on either side. I'd never pinned the keel
: before, but I think I always will now.

Duncan: Funny you should mention making a larger hole in your fabric!!! I made the mistake of getting a small butane torch to close to the poly while trying to singe a frayed edge!! I promptly burned a hole about 1/2" in diameter. I simply cut a small patch out of poly, whacked on some Aquaseal and stuck it up under the hole. The Aquaseal saturated the patch and adhered to the hull fabric like a SOB. You can't even tell where it was patched now. Crisis averted!!

Sean