Poptop canvas replacement, part 1

When we bought Le Puck the pop top canvas had definitely seen better days having gone mouldy in places and rotted around the zips.  So it had to go.
Much hunting around the Eriba forum produced a company called Matts Soft Tops who specialise in 2 CV  roof canvas and make the puck ones as a sideline in a great variety of colours.  Their Web address is www.matts-soft-tops.co.uk
I chose a conservative beige. This duly arrived and looks well made.
The first stage was to get le puck undercover then locate the link which joins the sprung wire which holds the bottom of the canvas to the roof rim. This is done by feel and slicing the old canvas

The hooks were opened slightly and the wire unhooked and then eased over the rim.  Next step was to undo the internal hinge supports and simply lift the whole lot off.

The next job was to lay the top down flat and undo the rusty 35 year old self tappers. All bar one yielded so quite pleased by that.
With the screws out the mounting ring came away with the old canvas attached, leaving the white vinyl roof lining. This previously had a foam insulation layer which had completely rotted away and was scraped and brushed off.

A replacement was made by using Thermowrap insulation which is the foil bubblewrap stuff which I had previously used to insulate my westy top.
This was cut to shape and then glued to the cleaned up white vinyl

The mounting ring was then wire brushed off and given a coat of Hammerite

Then its ready for the next stage which will be the big reassemble

Shiny Wheels!

Well having lost the wheel covers on the way to Normandy and with no chance of either original hub caps or 10 inch trims, I decided a quick refurb was called for. So with the aid of wire brush, hammerite some nut covers and a couple of mini alloy wheel centres and a mornings work has resulted in what you see below

Reasonably pleased. I knew the centres were a bit wide so some brute force was needed so they are a bit battered. Still big improvement.