What about Cotton?

[mjewell5]

Hello All:

I have been lurking, looking at different covering ideas; fiberglass, canvas, etc. One thing I haven't seen is Cotton, like cotton bed sheets.

One of the problems with canvas is that, if you buy drop cloths from HD, they generally have seams every 48" or so. That wouldn't work well with my 62" wide TD, but a Queen bed sheet surely would. Also, because it's a natural fabric, I would think that it should have better UV resistance than most synthetic materials. It could be used with epoxy resins, or with thinned TiteBond III as well.

Just my thoughts. Anyone have anything to add, or any practical experience with cotton?

Mike

[desertmoose]

Cotton bed sheets work fine. I used them in the galley on mine to cover the cheap plywood, at edges on the tongue box, and even to cover a set of pontoons for a fishing boat.

check your local thrift store. Can get them real cheap.

Sam

[DrewsBrews]

Isn't canvas made from cotton anymore? Though, being thicker material, it is probably more durable than sheets.

[rowerwet]

If you check my poor man's fiberglass instructable you will see I've used cotton bed sheets on two projects. On is an attic hatch cover on the roof of my house. Two winters now, and one three story flight later it is just as waterproof, and the paint is in the same shape as the day I put it up there.
I also used cotton sheets over my foam kayak (also an instructable ) other than some dings caused by banging into things while carrying it around, the fabric and paint are fine.
You can punch through sheets glued to foam, over plywood it is fine.

[mjewell5]

Sounds like I will be giving this a try!