" Just to see if Kayaking was something i would enjoy," I think it's great by the way" , i chose a 8 mil poly reinforced tarp, and as luck would have it, i've already found out how rocks feel rubbing the bottom of the boat , this stuff tears pretty easy and i was thankful i had a roll of gorilla tape in a dry bag along with, now it's time for something more durable, would the exterior coating make a difference on how wet the canvas got? Might there also be a possibility of putting it on a little loose and wetting it to shrink it so it didn't look quite so gaunt? Kevin "

Hi Kevin,
It would depend on how far through the coating went the canvas but it'll take on some moisture anyway. Moisture gets into the canvas from inside rather than the outside. I've used #10 duck which weighs about 15oz per square yard, anything lighter would be a bit light unless you are careful in use.

Canvas has a strange habit of relaxing to close to its original size when dry during a wet/dry cycle. I was thinking that the spacing between Yost frames would allow the normal shrink/relax of canvas to pull in the stringers. Thinking more on that potential problem, maybe a "three-piece" rib (for a vee'd hull a "four-piece" rib) like some Arctic people used fitted between the frames would be easier to do.

Mike Savage
South West Cork