[MR] Canvas tent upkeep

[Alexandria Stratton]

I would venture to guess that the issue was the canvas itself.

The very first tent I ever made utilized painters' tarps from home depot, 
because I was a poor college student and did not understand the concept of 
thread count. I treated it with a sealer and it stunk to high heaven until it 
had aired out for a couple of weeks. The first time it rained I may have well 
not bothered having the tent at all. I was in an all-period camp at Pennsic and 
had a bright blue tarp strung up on the inside of my tent. Creative, but I 
survived.

Using a good quality canvas is paramount. The industry standard is 10oz or 
higher. No amount of any kind of treatment will keep your tent from leaking if 
your canvas is poorly woven. As I've mentioned before, when it rains the fibers 
swell and seal out the rain. But if your fibers are not close enough together, 
you may as well have a screen over your head. 

A big misconception is that canvas must be treated with something to keep out 
the rain. This is simply not true. Untreated canvas will keep out the rain just 
as well (sometimes better) than non-treated. However, once you add a treatment 
to it, the stuff will prevent the fibers from swelling, because it prevents them 
from absorbing the moisture. If you have a loosely woven canvas to begin with, 
that will just make it worse.

Non-factory treatments have their place. If a tent worked fine for years and is 
loosing its resistance to rain due to sun, wind and age, then Canvak is 
perfectly appropriate and recommended. If you make your tent out of cheap 
canvas, you have wasted your money already and don't need to bother treating it. 
It will be best suited as a sun shade. 

My advice on the matter is never treat canvas unless it's absolutely necessary. 
Better yet, use Sunforger canvas (treated for mildew/flame resistance) and TAKE 
CARE of it.  
 -- Isabelle LaFar
http://www.HouseBarra.com
Experience is what you get, when things go awry.





________________________________
From: "DOLLYMORE at comcast.net" <DOLLYMORE at comcast.net>
To: atlantia at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org
Sent: Thu, June 9, 2011 9:10:36 PM
Subject: Re: [MR] Canvas tent upkeep


Hi, 


In the camp next to us last Pennsic there was a tent that had been treated with 
Canvac. Stunk to high heaven and when it rained we could hear the occupants 
crying, "It's like a shower in here" The tent came down the next day. 



I saw the word canvac and had to share. 


Bess 
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