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I think all canvas feels damp on the inside when its wet doesn't it?  Its best not to touch it as you'll encourage the water to collect at that point and start to drip in.

Homebird

Hi emma19

Last year we bought a Pathfinder that had mouse damage on the canvas (chewed and peed on).  The original plan was to pay for a new canvas but the waiting times were so long we decided to try patching, cleaning and waterproofing it.  We had nothing to lose.  We patched the hole with Tear Aid but I didn't apply it properly so we've since replaced that with Tenacious Tape.

We scrubbed the urine stains with warm soapy water (Lux flakes) - inside and out.  Rinsed it thoroughly 5 times letting it dry in between.  I applied two coats of Fabsil to the whole thing to start with but the patches where we'd used the soap still leaked.  I was knackered and had bruises from days of leaning on ladder steps by then so from then on I just treated the patches from inside.  In total, it took 5 coats of Fabsil to make those patches waterproof but then they withstood several days of torrential rain last summer and there are still no leaks this year.  There are visible tidemarks but only if you're looking from above and I cared more about being dry than pretty!  We saved ourselves about a thousand quid I think.

Ailish