Around 7/8/2005 12:00 PM, Chris wrote:

"*JimH*" wrote in message
...

We used that system when we had a 21 footer many years back. The problem
with it was that the *battens* (I now understand that is what they are
called) are in direct contact with the canvas and promote leakage because
of that.

So any solution here that is in contact with the canvas could really cause
leakage... whether a rope, or other object?

If it's real canvas and not vinyl or some kind of plastic, yeah. Real
canvas acts like a wick, and gravity will channel excess water downward.
Interrupt that flow by giving the water an easier path, and it'll take it.

We used to have that problem with our Chris' worn aft deck canvas on
really rainy days. Most of the time any water that leeched through at
the aluminum support poles would run down the sides of the supports and
out the cockpit drains, but if you bumped your head on the canvas, you'd
get a wet head.


Back in my Scouting days, we were always told if it was raining to never
touch the canvas of the summer camp's big lodge tents. There was always
some kid who didn't listen or wasn't careful enough and would get his
sleeping bag right up against the wall, and all the water would leech
through and fill his bag like a sponge.




--
~/Garth - 1966 Glastron V-142 Skiflite: "Blue-Boat"
"There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing
as simply messing about in boats."
-Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows