Award of Excellence | Custom Marine Canvas | Noank, Conn.

This project won a 2013 MFA Award of Excellence in the miscellaneous marine category. The USCGC Eagle, America’s Tall Ship is a very active vessel. The customer needed protection at the Mid Deck from rain and sun while underway, or entertaining guests worldwide.

The purpose is to provide rain and sun protection of the main area of the vessel. The crew requested a white canopy that could stay clean and be easy and quick to put up and take down.

Standing and running rigging had to be accommodated, a variety of positions of the boarding gangway made us have to install several openings that would still not compromise the structural integrity of the overall awning. The 80-foot-by-40-foot area had to be covered by the awning built in two sections because of the mast and rigging.

The biggest challenge was to get these two sections to line up, despite interruptions, in a strong and apparently seamless manner.

Untrained crew were able to deploy and stow the awning quickly and easily. The chosen fabric was lighter to put up, smaller to stow, and much more dimensionally stable than the previous iteration.