September 29th - Dodge Rear Canvas

I got a second hand rear canvas for the Dodge earlier in the season. It is meant to be attached to the bow by a spiral of rope, wrapped around the top of the bow. On a normal Dodge, having it permanently fitted isn't a problem. On mine, having the crane fitted and having to dismantle the roof bows to get it in the garage, makes the standard way of attachment a problem. I wanted a quicker way of fitting it than threading the rope around the bows and through all the canvas eyelets.

The wires that support the crane usually hang a little way below the bow, stopping the canvas from rolling down from the top as on a standard Dodge. When the tailgate is closed, that will support the crane, so the lifting cables can be given a bit of slack. A small chain was added to the bow, to hold the cables up out of the way of the canvas, allowing it to hang below. So after a bit of messing around with ideas, I came up with a new way of attaching the canvas.

Small lengths of rope were cut and fed through pairs of eyelets in the canvas, knotted on the outside. They now hook over small dowels on the inside of the bow, without any need for being tied or wrapped around the bow. Longer lengths of rope are attached to each side, which do wrap around the sides of the bow to pull it out at the edges. It is now a quick job to fit or remove and the crane lifting wires don't cause a problem.