Canvas Tarpaulin covers: The disappointing truth

Her Outdoors put a lot of work into finding the right kind of Canvas Tarpaulin for our yurts. She talked to lots of individuals (they weren't always very forthcoming about their suppliers - not surprising as yurts were really taking off at the time and canvas was in increasingly short supply). She checked lots of websites out. And she settled on the unbleached 12-ounce 'waterproof, rot-confirmation, flame-evidence canvas' everyone was using.

Sounds very reasonable. I can't see why anyone would do anything different.

We requested hundreds of meters (yards) of the stuff, from two different suppliers. Her Outdoors made a cover for our first 18-foot yurt, we put it in the trailer and off we went.

If you've read this blog all along (or the end, depending on which way you take a gander at it), you may remember that August 2007 was very wet when we arrived in France. Very wet - outside and inside the yurt. So wet, we sought shelter in a house and Her Outdoors began to doubt her skills. Which are considerable (and award-winning).

Time passed.

We built the 12-foot Play Yurt and Her Outdoors made a cover. We moved into it. It rained. The cover leaked. And started to rot. (Waterproof, rot-verification, flame-confirmation, remember?)

We put the original 18-foot up for extra storage. It leaked a bit less. And was a bit less rotten.

We put another 18-foot up on a wonderful dry beaten earth platform, with canvas from the second manufacturer. Just before a rainstorm. Which went straight through the cover, almost like it wasn't there.

Her Outdoors made a few calls. Here's one:

Professional yurt cover maker 1: 'Ah yes - 2007 was the worst year to purchase Canvas Tarpaulin - the rot-proofing was water soluble. They've made some improvements.'

Here's another:

Professional yurt cover maker 2: 'Goodness yes - you really want to re-evidence your canvas before you use it. Twice if you can. Otherwise it leaks. We'll send you some proofing, but you won't require any seam-sealer.'

More research revealed individuals who live in yurts full-time do not use canvas. (Which, among other things, needs replacing EVERY COUPLE OF YEARS.) Everyone's using some kind of manmade material, like polycotton, which costs many, many times all the more but will last for up to 10 years. (If you really need to be aware, use the comments thing below and I'll get Her Outdoors to give you all the details.)

Presently, call me antiquated if you must, but if you sell something as 'waterproof' and 'rot-evidence', it should be those things. The 12-foot cover rotted so badly, Her Outdoors had to make another one before we could open this year. It lasted a few months (which would have cost 1250 GBP if made professionally - no big surprise other yurt camps cost so a lot).

Last week, it rained for the first time since July. Again, inside as well as outside our yurt (we re-sealed the guest yurt and Play Yurt at the start of the season and they held up pretty well. We couldn't re-confirmation our yurt 'cos the material was so new, the proofing ran off - yes, it's actually resistant to evidence).

We found how the water was coming in - and will be ordering some seam sealer in the next few days.

Conclusion

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