Jan 6th  -  Jan 7th  -  Jan 10th  -  Jan 11th  -   Jan 12th  -   Jan 21st

I don't know how old the Dodge canvas is, but it probably dates back at least to Norwegian Army service. There's a few small wear holes in it, but overall, it isn't too bad. One of its main problems was that three of the buckles on top were missing - the leather buckle straps having snapped long before I got it. Two of the cab canvas buckle straps had also snapped at some point and new straps sewn onto the leather patch, rather than using rivets as it originally had been.

A friend had a spare buckle on a patch which he posted to me. It may have been from a GMC or different model of Dodge, as the patch shape was different to my WC51 canvas. This was going to be a doner for the rear right fixing. I'd also bought some leather belt blanks to make some new roof straps to replace those missing from the bows. I hadn't found any originals in the UK and those in Europe cost a fortune, before shipping and import duty. As the bow metalwork isnt original ( I think it's Norwegian ), I wasn't worried about the straps not being 100% authentic, especially as this was considerably cheaper.

As you probably noticed from the pictures taken while I was out driving, I've only had the front corner of the canvas rolled up. Once these repairs were done, I'd be able to roll up the canvas side properly and secure it. Below left is the doner patch and buckle and the original and doner in the picture to the right.
 

Another small step forwards on the canvas repairs. When I ordered the leather straps, I actually ordered one more than I needed by mistake. Two was enough for the six straps needed, but it was a couple of weeks before when I worked out the lengths needed and when I came to ordering, bought three in error. It turned out just as well, as this gave me spare material to replace the missing front buckles. I hadn't realised the two front ones were missing initially.

Two new lengths were cut for the front buckles and were folded in half and fed into my bandsaw to cut the centre slot. For many years I've had a leather punch, which I think belonged to my granddad. I've never needed to use it until now but the cutters were still sharp and made nice clean holes in the straps, ready for the new buckles. 

I found some small D-rings on Ebay which were pretty cheap. They aren't the right shape, but wanted the canvas useable as soon as possible. These will do for now until I can make a proper set. The gloss, gunmetal finish was scrubbed off with fine wire wool and they were then given a couple of coats of olive drab. The last of the bits and pieces arrived in the post today, so late afternoon, I set to work. The new buckles were slotted onto the straps I made and riveted into the canvas. They weren't a bad match for size and shape of the original buckles. I'm sure they'll dull down fairly quickly. I can always give them a light wire wool to help that process.

On the morning of the 11th, I went out to the garage to fit the straps. The two rear bows could be fitted between the garage door runner, though the centre brace would have to come off if I wanted to fit the canvas. The front bow is tucked between the Dodge and garage wall. With the woodwork, canvas, first aid kit and fire extinguisher bracket, it's heavy and awkward to lift out of that position, so I didn't bother fitting it. All the bows had existing holes from previous straps, though the holes were lower than the proper position, below the metal corner bracket.

With holes already there, I didn't bother making fresh holes in the correct position. When I get around to making some proper strap fittings, I might look into drilling the metalwork for the proper location and plugging the current holes. Since they'll be removed again at some point, I just used a little PVA glue to lock the threads for now. The excess bolt length will be trimmed off once those have dried. I think I'll have to get the Dodge out to try the canvas on, rolled up, as it will be easier than in the confined space of the garage.

That was easy compared to wrestling with the canvas in the confined space between the door runners to the side and roof trusses over my head, trying to stop it from sliding back off the bows as I fought it into position. I got there in the end and rolled up the right side. All was well.

It enabled me to get a better sense of the clearance, or lack of, between the truck roof and the position of the garage door lintel, once raised to its new position. The string in the last picture marks the lower edge of the new lintel.