Having lost my "dope" privileges in the my basement shop and being too cold outside, has anyone had any success using any other wife friendly products to adhere silkspan?  Will water based polyurethane work?  Any suggestions or do I have to wait for the spring thaw?

Gotta Garage ??   How about your girlfriends house   Ah just kiddin Mrs.Beazley ... honest I am.

One of the problems with water based urethanes is that it isn't tacky so it really doesn't stick stuff down real well. I've used it to attach paper over sheeted sections and it's fine on flat surfaces, not too good for curves or tips.
Others have used thinned white glue and heat, Stik-it adhesive. Even Carters paper glue was used at least once. However nothing beats dope, as much as I hate using dope there is no real substitute that I have found that I can comfortably live with.
Now plastic covering is a whole different ballgame. Cheaper then dope, faster then dope, shine without real work, and total repairability. it's almost perfect. However I doubt that you will ever get a 20 point award at the nats. But I wonder what would happen if Faye Stilley took a shot at a stunt model and entered it in toledo.
For those that don't know he won the best monokote award more times then anyone else. His coverings are works of art.
dennis

You can use wall paper paste to attach silk or tissue to your airframe!

Cheers

I covered two open bay wings with minwax water based poly. I just stuck it down with the poly mixed with isopropal alchol , so it would dry quickly. Then repeatedly misted water on silkspan and dried with heat gun. It shrank very tightly. One wing looks good ,the other cracked silkspan around each bay. I think it could be made to work with more experimenting. I don't know what I did differently. to make one crack. FWIW