: Hi-

: Got a rip in the canvas of my skin-on-frame Greenland yesterday.
: I was lazy putting it on the truck, and it suffered a 4" gash.

: Is there any adhesive-hopefully epoxy-that will stick to canvas that has been
: painted with linseed oil/porch paint? I can glue a patch on after sewing.

: Thanks in advance for any help!

The most mentioned repair I've heard of is common rubber cement. Get it from the stationery store.

Cut a patch from your canvas. make it 2 to 3 inchs bigger than the rip. Put on one or two coats thin coats of the cement, letting it dry thorougly between coats. Apply one thin coat to the boat. Let this also dry thoroughly. once the glue is dry you can apply the patch. If you can get something inside the boat behind the tear to support the area around the rip, then you can apply pressure to seal the patch firmly.

The patch goes on the outside of the boat.

With uncoated canvas patches the rubber cement alone will resist a lot of water, but may not be totally waterproof, so paint it as soon as you can.

As I recall, in his book George Putz has a picture of a repaired hull that was fixed this way and used for several seasons.

Once the patch is held on by the rubber cement you can certainly reinforce the area with some stitching. That patch won't move around as you sew. After it is painted it should be as strong as any other seam in your hull, so it should actually be as good as new.

If you have a few scraps of material that are already coated with the same paint that you used for the hull then you have readymade patching material. You might want to put a few coats of paint on some scrap canvas and carry it along with your rubber cement for future quick repairs.

Other contact cements, such as those found at hardware stores for mounting laminate countertops (like Formica (R))can be used.

Duct tape has a lot of advocates. If you go that route get the widest you can. It is cheap and easy to replace. Put some on the inside and the outside, If you can.

Leather workers use a cement by the trade name of Barge. You can find small tubes at craft stores. Use it like the rubber cement, as a contact adhesive. It is incredibly strong and flexible, and more "plasticy" than "rubbery". Carefully clean the tip of the tube before you put the cap on, or you'll never be able to reopen the tube!

When working with Barge: Spread it with a piece of index card or thin stiff plastic. Don't even think of trying to spread it with your fingers. Unlike rubber cement, which will roll into a ball and rub off, if you try to remove Barge from your fingers by rubbing them you will just glue your fingers together for a while. It takes days to wash this stuff off with soap and water, and I've been too afraid of stronger solvents to try any.

Hope this helps.

PGJ