Top 10 Uses for Canvas Tarps

Waterproof, heavy-duty canvas tarps are extremely versatile fabric tools. A canvas tarp’s design is simple yet durable, making it a tough accessory we could all use. Whether you use it for covering boats or protecting hay for your pack horses, it will never fail you. And if a canvas tarp rips or tears, you can patch it up and put it back to work. Unlike poly tarps, canvas is breathable, meaning that the material allows moisture to escape from underneath. Plus they look great!

Not sure how to make the most of a canvas tarp? We’re going to offer some inspiration.

Here are 10 practical uses for canvas tarps, some of which we bet you’ve never considered!

Top 10 Practical Uses for Heavy-Duty Canvas Tarps

Heavy-duty canvas tarps have countless outdoor uses. One of the most obvious uses you’re likely already well aware of is a groundcloth or ground cover to accompany your wall tent sod cloth or create a tent flooring. But we won’t harp on that. The goal of this list is to leave you inspired with practical uses you might not have even thought of. Here we go!

1. Protecting Your Truck Bed Cargo

A heavy-duty canvas tarp is the perfect solution for owners of older trucks – or truck models that lack a tonneau cover. Canvas tarp bed covers offer a weatherproof seal over your truck bed, protecting any cargo you haul. Even if your truck has a tonneau cover, what about carrying back a cord of loose firewood? Hard bed covers will limit how much you can stack.

Canvas tarp bed covers also feature reinforced edges and grommets, offering multiple tie-down configurations to protect cargo as you journey down highways and off-road trails. Sure, it’s possible to do this with a standard blue tarp, but canvas is much more durable than vinyl alternatives.

2. Covering Boats and Watersport Gear

Whether you’re an angler or waterfowl hunter, a quality boat cover is good to have. It reduces the boat’s exposure to the elements and ensures a dry seat when you start your day (especially for smaller vessels and dinghies). Waterproof canvas tarps also make excellent kayak and SUP covers!

Canvas tarp boat covers offer natural breathability to prevent condensation, mold and mildew. Heavy-duty grommets act as tie-downs, securing it during strong winds. Canvas tarps can also help with winterization and protect against bird droppings.

3. Protecting Tools and Construction Equipment

For the handyman or handywoman who invested in construction equipment, canvas tarps will keep the gears and mechanisms lasting. Ideal for both short-term construction sites or seasonal storage, the breathable canvas material ensures circulation, minimizing rust that can ruin metal tools while also protecting plastic components from becoming brittle from UV damage.

Afraid of your sharp tools or equipment ripping a blue tarp? Then, stick with a tougher construction tarp made of canvas that resists abrasion and tears. Simply drape the canvas tarp over your equipment or hang it above as you work.

4. Keeping Firewood Stacks Dry

As your firewood dries out and seasons, it needs protection. Stacking firewood under a porch or overhang is the ideal way to go. But sometimes that’s not possible. In any case, you need to store firewood out of rain and snow yet provide enough air circulation to ensure it doesn’t grow mold.

Whether you drape it over or set wood on top, a waterproof canvas tarp will present this moisture from seeping into the wood. Canvas firewood tarps are a very useful accessory when transporting wood into basecamp, where shelter is limited, and warmth is vital.

5. Doubling as Outdoor Furniture Covers

Canvas tarps are great at protecting your outdoor furniture. Unlike most standard vinyl or polyester covers that outdoor furniture brands offer, which become brittle in extreme temperatures, a canvas tarp is flexible, breathable, and has a more versatile shape.

Also, while typical outdoor furniture covers are shaped specifically to that piece, a large canvas can be draped across a multiple-piece furniture set. Of course, the canvas’s breathability allows airflow, significantly reducing mold and mildew to fabric cushions and reducing condensation that leads to rust on metal furniture frames – all while preventing sun damage and UV fading.

In addition, the canvas is thicker, which can withstand hail and everyday debris like tree branches that could otherwise scratch a furniture’s frame finish.

6. Creating Stealth Hunting Blinds

Hunters have multiple uses for canvas tarps. In fact, they make great accessories for hunting tents and trips. One of them is a hunting blind. Using a canvas tarp hunting blind, you can configure whatever shape you need for various hunting scenarios.

Consider the canvas color though! Think green for hunting in the woods or a natural canvas color to blend seamlessly with marsh grass when waterfowl hunting.

7. Making a Temporary Game Processing Station

Another excellent use for canvas tarps hunters will appreciate! Canvas tarp field dressing cloths offer a clean, sanitized station to harvest game. Field dressing on a canvas tarp will protect your harvest as you and fellow hunters break down and bag your game.

Canvas field dressing cloths can also be angled to allow blood and water runoff (without making a total mess) and washed down between each processing. Alternatively, you can hang a canvas tarp over your game to protect meat from spoiling or to keep away interested pests and insects.

8. Setting Up Extra Base Camp Areas

Aside from their well-known use of tent groundcloths, canvas tarps make excellent shelter setups for additional areas around base camp. If rain or strong winds are in the forecast, center the canvas tarp over your outdoor kitchen so you can still prepare food, cook meals, and clean up. Hang a canvas tarp between trees to create a weatherproof gathering space to take cover or store other gear and equipment.

9. Shielding Pack Animals from the Elements

If packing by mule or horse, a canvas tarp can come in handy in multiple ways. Canvas tarps can offer load coverage, wrapping around gear and protecting it and your pack animal.

Then, once you arrive at basecamp, you might create a canvas tarp shelter to continue protecting them from wind and rain, or, by stretching between a few trees, a canvas tarp can transform into a temporary stall divide. You could also unroll the canvas tarp to designate a clean surface for keeping saddles, tack, and bags.

10. Keeping Agriculture and Gardens Protected

If you have pack animals, a waterproof canvas tarp also works well back at the barn. Use it to cover hale bales, protecting it from rain without developing toxic mildew. Canvas tarps can also help maintain other types of feed, covering grain bags from weather and pests while also preventing spoilage caused by moisture absorption.

Gardeners will give a green thumbs-up for canvas tarps, too. Canvas tarps have so many uses for backyard landscaping. Canvas tarp ground covers can help with weed control or even protect sensitive crops and plants from harmful frost damage. When spring arrives, a canvas tarp ground cover can act as a greenhouse or a low tunnel to help germinate sprouts.

Canvas Tarps: Versatile and Practical Tools for Everyday Life

The weatherproof, durable design and construction of heavy-duty canvas tarps make them versatile and practical tools for everyday life.

If you're looking for a quality canvas tarp, look no further than Beckel Canvas. Each of our canvas tarps are handmade in the USA of 100% 10.1 oz Sunforger™ canvas, designed to withstand the harshest weather conditions. Plus, we offer them in various sizes to suit all the uses mentioned above.

Do you have any clever or practical uses for canvas tarps? Let us know in the comments!