Dodger Recovering

[doubleeboy]

Hi All, One of the boats for sale that we have recently looked at has a newly recovered Dodger. The owner says the guy who redid the the dodger leaves the material intentionally a little loose upon installation. Stating that it will tighten up over time and that if you fit the canvas tight to start it will soon have trouble around the zippers and windows and likely start splitting.

The owner went on to say that in the two weeks since Dodger was redone the material has tightened up considerably.

Any thoughts on this, it struck me as odd, but I have no experience with redoing canvas dodgers. I have done a few sports car tops that were vinyl, and it was the opposite, we had to install them as absolutely tight as we could because they would stretch with time, but I realize vinyl and canvas are two different animals.

Thank you for your input
michael

[Faster]

Our dodger was originally built tight, and has seemed stable over the last 3 years. Sloppy dodgers really look kind of shoddy to me.

I have seen stitching pulled out on older dodgers, but suspect it's more due to the UV degradation of the thread, or the result of stresses from people grabbing the dodger as they pass by or stumble.

[k1vsk]

Originally Posted by doubleeboy

Hi All, One of the boats for sale that we have recently looked at has a newly recovered Dodger. The owner says the guy who redid the the dodger leaves the material intentionally a little loose upon installation. Stating that it will tighten up over time and that if you fit the canvas tight to start it will soon have trouble around the zippers and windows and likely start splitting.

The owner went on to say that in the two weeks since Dodger was redone the material has tightened up considerably.

Any thoughts on this, it struck me as odd, but I have no experience with redoing canvas dodgers. I have done a few sports car tops that were vinyl, and it was the opposite, we had to install them as absolutely tight as we could because they would stretch with time, but I realize vinyl and canvas are two different animals.

Thank you for your input
michael

This one is among the more imaginative excuses I've heard from not doing it correctly the first time. Sunbrella doesn't shrink nor does the glass used for windows, either eisenglass or strataglass. Maybe he's hoping the SS bow expands...

[xort]

The glass does soften up a bit when warm. I cannot get some of my snaps or zippers to close when it's below 70, but they work fine when it's above 80.

[Vasco]

Good canvas sewers make every measurement just a tad smaller than measured when they sew. This results in nice tight canvas. How much smaller is something they learn over time. If it's loose now it won't get better.