Canvas roof and boiled linseed oil.

[Ken]

Just back from the Exmoor trim factory tour ( thanks to James and staff at Exmoor trim) I paid particular attention to the hoods and asked questions. I think they were very honest with their replies and the standard of work was very good ( I spent my professional life as an automotive designer of materials and paint including 12 years running this at Jaguar) I was a little surprised at the thickness of the canvas but I'm more used to the triple layer hood material used by Jaguar, Porsche etc. In answer to preserving the canvas they recommend yearly application of Nixwax or another which escapes my memory for the moment and have no knowledge of boiled linseed oil. Treated annually they think you may get 7 years, without doing so 3 to 5. I imagine this is pretty typical as the chemicals once applied to the canvas as a preservative are no longer available.

[geoff]

Thank you Ken   

[Clifford Pope]

I've just looked at the Nikwax website and their products all appear to be for synthetic fabrics.
Standard Fabsil still seems to be suitable for traditional canvas (although I do wonder what their "unisex" version is for!)
Sails on fishing boats were preserved with various concoctions of fish oil, red ochre, red lead, Stockholm tar etc.

[diffwhine]

Just back from the Exmoor trim factory tour ( thanks to James and staff at Exmoor trim) I paid particular attention to the hoods and asked questions. I think they were very honest with their replies and the standard of work was very good ( I spent my professional life as an automotive designer of materials and paint including 12 years running this at Jaguar) I was a little surprised at the thickness of the canvas but I'm more used to the triple layer hood material used by Jaguar, Porsche etc. In answer to preserving the canvas they recommend yearly application of Nixwax or another which escapes my memory for the moment and have no knowledge of boiled linseed oil. Treated annually they think you may get 7 years, without doing so 3 to 5. I imagine this is pretty typical as the chemicals once applied to the canvas as a preservative are no longer available.

One of the women I spoke to there yesterday as well suggested Fabsil. Its pretty clear from the conversation that although the base quality of the hoods is good, the inability to preserve canvas properly under current regulations means that a hood is now really to be regarded as a disposable service item. All well and good at £200 - £300, but when it comes to a 101 hood at double that, it gets a bit expensive.

[Richard]

Nikwax website and their products all appear to be for synthetic fabrics.

They have something called Nikwax Wax Cotton Proof. On the linked page they explain how to use it. For wax coats. I hate it when I have to do my wax coat. And that's small compared to a canvas hood...
Richard

[RobS]

Just buy one in Mohair - saves all this messing about plus they don't shrink, never consider anything else these days.

[Richard]

I found this. Ultramar Cotton Impregnation Agent. Can be applied using a paint roller...
Richard

[Ken]

Fabsil was the other treatment recommended which I could not recall.
My reaction to the hood material was how lightweight it is, my partner is a farmer's daughter and brought up with Landy's . She remarked also on how light weight they were and how heavy an original factory hood was.
I would expect the factory item to have nearer to 20 than 3 to 5 years life.
I'm some way off yet from needing one but intend to unpick a knackered one for patterns and cut  my own from a heavy duty waterproof material. I've done that before on late 20's and early 30's cars getting the items sown up by a trimmer. Not especially challenging but I will not spend plus £400 for 3 years service.

[Wittsend]

Helps a lot if you can park the vehicle in a barn or garage when it's not in use.

 

[diffwhine]

I think Ken has touched on a good point. The canvas that ET use does seem to be lighter weight than some I've seen.