Let it rain Bruce Giller

I bought my '86 Alfa Spider in late December 1988 after looking for one for several months. It was the right year, color and mileage for me. I've never owned a rag top and even though I've read about leaky roofs, I didn't think that it would apply to my late model car. Well, it did. When it rained hard and or continuously, the two seams that run the length of the top just over the doors would turn wet and soggy and then would drip down right on top of the shoulder belts. I carried a towel to place over the shoulder of the seat to keep the belt dry. The nylon webbing soaked up the water and then happily transfered it to my shirt or jacket when I use the belt. On cold days, it wasn't very comfortable.

Other times the water would accumulate between the canvas and the rigid nose of the top that attaches to the windscreen. I would find out how much there was when I made a tight corner and the water cascaded all over me. Now, that was a rude surprise !

I asked my Alfa dealer about how long a top should last and he said around 7 years and here mine wasn't even 3 years old yet. His rationale for the leaking top was that the canvas was stretched tightly over the top frame and that 'holes' develop slowly over time as the canvas loosened up. Mine was much too young !

Along with the leaks, the back window had cracks in it, so I decided to look into getting a new top. My friendly Alfa dealer gave me a nice high price of around $700 for one from him. I did look into a non-Alfa top (American made) for around $450 - $550 (if I wanted padded quarters which is original equipment). On second thought, my top wasn't all that bad of shape and I decided that I could prolong its life a few years longer.

I've dealt with leaking canvas roofs on tents (one such tent had us run for the car in a downpour as the roof started to drip at an alarming rate and started to fill the tent) and I had a spray-on solution that was to re-vitalize the water repellency of the canvas. I sprayed some on the top but there didn't seem to be much improvement, so I repeated it two more times with the same results (it never worked well on the tents, either).

Bringing my clever deductive reasoning to the forefront, I reasoned that maybe the seams were the main entry point and I could stop most of the water there. I bought some shoe seam sealer which I have used with great success before (on shoes, that is). This greasy looking stuff is used on boots where you might be in wet conditions. It doesn't allow the stitching in the seams to wick up water and get your socks wet. I applied the sealer liberally on all the seams and melted it into them with a hair dryer. I did it twice. No dice.

Now I knew that the water was coming in thru the canvas everywhere but in minute amounts. Just a little everywhere but it would accumulate at the low points and then drip on me and my passengers. I was debating on WHEN to buy not SHOULD I buy.

In the meantime, one of my many home projects was to replace the front porch floor of my 1924 bungalow. Some of the wood decking had become rotten from having to put up with standing water and losing the battle. I decided to treat both sides of the replacement decking with a water sealer so that the next owner wouldn't have to replace it for awhile. I bought some Thompson's Water Seal and as I was reading the back of the container for the application hints, I ran my eyes down the list of useful places it could be used; wood (of course), brick, block, concrete, stucco, canvas tents.... canvas tents !!!! And this stuff wasn't to enhance water repellency but to make it water PROOF !! Just the stuff I've been looking for !!

Thompson's is a petroleum based product and they recommend that it be applied first as a test in a inconspicuous area of the canvas to see if there is any discoloration. Seeing that my top was Mottled Grey instead of Stygian Black, I didn't really carebut I did try it on a test area. I used a folded up piece of cloth and I wore some disposable rubber gloves since I had to dip the cloth into the sealer and wipe it on. The canvas turned much darker as if wet but the next day I couldn't tell if I had put it on or not. It took me less than a half hour to apply one coat to the top. I tried to keep it off the paint, chrome, glass and the rear window but a little got on despite my best efforts. The next day, I could see the dried overflow because it left a translucent film on the surfaces. I used a clean cloth lightly soaked in mineral spirits, and rubbed the overflow off the windows, chrome, the rear window and the paint. I had just washed and waxed the car and had put Rain-X on the windows. No doubt, the mineral spirits took off the wax and the Rain-X but that might account for the easy removal. There didn't appear to be any damage done. The top looked as if nothing had been done do it. I was hoping that I'd get a color change and the top would be more black than grey. Since my top is an old one and most of the dye is gone, I'm not sure what would happen if it was applied to a new one.

I drove the car and boy, was it odoriferous inside !! I felt like I was sitting in a can of Thompson's. The smell didn't go away for several days. Thompson's recommends two coats for the best results so the next weekend I applied a second coat. After I applied the Thompson's, I loosened the top and pulled the front from the windscreen about 10 inches to allow the air to circulate inside the car. This seemed to reduce the smell the next day to a more bearable amount.

The first time it rained, I didn't want to look but I had to go to work. The water was standing up on the canvas in little beads as if it had been waxed. The color of the top remained grey instead of water-soaked black. On the inside, there wasn't any water dripping down from the seams or up under the rigid piece of the top. There was a little water in the water channel so maybe I missed a piece or it was leaking from somewhere where the Thompson's couldn't get. The next rain was a soaker and the top eventually turned black as the top layer was soaked but no water ever dripped on the seats. There seemed to be less humidity in the car, too. It didn't even drip inside when it rained off and on for three days for a total accumulation of 2.5 inches.

I've had the sealer on for about a two months now and it does not seem to have lost its' effectiveness. My guess is that after constant exposure to the sun, it will breakdown and I will have to apply some more. I will have to get a new top eventually because of the cracked back window and it's overall shabby appearance. But now, I just laugh when the weather man calls for rain, for now my Alfa is waterproof !!

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1996