Can Exterior Paint Revive Faded Dodger Canvas?

We tested exterior fabric paint on marine canvas in real-world conditions, including multiple coats, waterproofing treatments and harsh weather, to find out what actually works—and what doesn't.

By
Marc Robic
-
4
Author doing a rub test and chemical test on samples of canvas painted with exterior fabric paint. (Photo/ Marc Robic)
Author doing a rub test and chemical test on samples of canvas painted with exterior fabric paint. (Photo/ Marc Robic)

One of the little luxuries many sailors treat themselves to is great canvas. I just went sailing on a brisk, cold and windy day on a sailboat without canvas where cold water and mist splashed off the bow and onto everyone in the cockpit and inside the companionway. In conditions like that you’ll quickly understand canvas’ value.

To continue reading this article or issue you must be a paid member.
JOIN NOW

Join Practical Sailor

Get full access to Practical-Sailor.com – more than 4,000 articles – for just $34.
Join today and save 42% off our full price.
Already a member?
| Forgot your password? | Activate Web Access
Marc Robic
Marc caught his love of sailing and all things water from his father from a very young age. He has owned many sailboats in his 40+ years of sailing. An avid do-it-yourselfer and handyman, he builds, modifies, improves and executes all his own repairs. He also enjoys testing, documenting & sharing products and how-to methods with other sailors and boaters. Posting many how to videos on his YouTube channel and Facebook page. He is a member of the Canadian Power and Sail Squadron. Currently, he sails his Catalina 270, Aquaholic 3, out of the Ile-Perrot Yacht Club in Montreal, where Marc spent 16 years as Harbour Master. He is also a regular bareboat yacht charterer, having sailed most of the Caribbean islands. In the winter months, Marc regularly hand builds exact scale models of friends’ boats to give them away in the spring.
Facebook Youtube

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

4 COMMENTS

  1. Please follow-up in a few years!

    I’ve used MDR Amazon latex inflatable paint for a UV strip on an older sail; it remained chip-free until I retired the sail 3 years later (PS article). Sail cloth is resonated and does not bleed through.

    I painted a large acrylic canvas (not Sunbrella but similar) porch umbrella with white house paint. It was dark blue and the heat under it in the summer was considerable. I would never do a dark colored dodger. Dark looks good, but dark tents are always hot in the summer. The bleed through is ugly, but the shade is now MUCH cooler. That was 3 years ago and there are no chips or signs of aging. Two coats, and it stiffen the cloth considerably, but the wrinkles come out after it has been up for a day. I wouldn’t use that paint on a boat, I think. 20 years and I would just get new canvas. Stitching goes, there is chafe, the windows are probably due for a second replacement, and zippers get wonky (I sail year-round, so the canvas sees more UV). But it certainly worked so I’m sharing.

    I do coat some lines with something like paint (PS article on Yale Maxijacket). It greatly reduces chafe and UV damamge.

  2. I wonder if a fabric dye would work? Remove the canvas and clean, then submerge in a dye solution; let dry then treat with ScotchGuard. Both sides in-solution simultaneously should make bleed-through less of an issue…?

  3. Acrylic fabric (like Sunbrella) accepts dye very poorly. Sunbrella fabrics are dyed as the fiber is chemically extruded, before weaving, so that the color is embedded into the molecular structure of the fiber itself. Polyester fabrics are dyed after the fiber is extruded, either as yarns (then woven into fabric) or as cloth (example: Top Gun). Polyester dyes have poor colorfastness when exposed to sunlight, embedded acrylic dyes are very resistant to fading.
    You can’t re-dye acrylic fabric.