Death and taxes may be certain, but for those who own boats, so is canvas damage. For many marine fabricators, the industry is becoming increasingly complex due to computerized patterning software, innovative high-tech materials and tools, and advanced methods for accomplishing just about anything. But most shops still have a hand in a part of the business that never really changes much: canvas repair.

There are a lot of reasons why canvas needs repairing, and one of the most common is UV exposure, says Thom Hefner, co-owner with Amanda Warren of Yacht Canvas Inc., in Annapolis, Md. “The other major issue is usually abrasion, where people are touching the canvas or scraping it where it wasn’t anticipated, or it was not reinforced.”

The sun can degrade thread as well as canvas, says Hefner, but thread often fails because it “isn’t what it should be. People come in for a full restitch and the thread is not PTFE and it’s burned out, but the fabric is good. Sometimes that can’t be helped when people cut corners or use cheaper materials.”

Different approaches to repairs

To a casual observer, it may not seem that something as simple as a repair could differentiate one fabricator from another, but that’s not always true.

Take Rick Berkey, owner of Rick’s Custom Marine Canvas and Sail Repair in Cornelius, N.C., on the south end of Lake Norman. Berkey estimates that canvas repairs represent about 20% of his business. He says he’s the last of the fabricators on the lake who go out to customers’ boats on the water. “Because we boat year-round here, there’s not a lot of people who have trailers,” says Berkey. “If someone has a 28-foot boat and they want a cover made, you have to go to the boat.”

He says most fabricators don’t want the hassle of going to the boat because working at a marina requires insurance and supplement certificates. Also, he says, “It can be a big waste of time because of the traffic around here. You can spend more time trying to get to the boat than actually doing the work.”

“But time is money,” Berkey says, pointing out the upside. “The clock starts ticking when you leave the shop, and then you sit on the highway for 20 or 30 minutes. So fabricators who don’t go to the boats have to supplement their workload with patio furniture and upholstery. But we do only canvas.”

Repair or replace?

Counseling clients on whether to repair or replace canvas is a big part of a fabricator’s job. For Warren, a key to customer service is walking customers through the repair process so they know what their options are and what those options might cost.

“If someone brings in a bimini that’s looking pretty worn, a very popular thing to say is ‘I just want to get one more season out of it,’ ” she explains. “But if something is dry-rotted and has ripped, we tell them we can patch this tear, but we’ll be poking thousands of needle holes in it—and when we tension it back on, it might just rip again.”

“I have a hard time letting people put good money after bad,” says Warren. “When time and materials start getting to a third or half of a new one, I have to ask if they are sure that’s something they want to do.”

On the other hand, if a repair is possible and makes economic sense, boat owners are often grateful for the option, says Berkey. “They may start with the mindset that they have to replace, but the first thing we do is evaluate the health of the fabric. If the fabric is not healthy, there is no sense in doing the repair. But if the fabric can be repaired and they want to go that route, you’ll hear a big sigh of relief.”

“We try to be very realistic with people and try to help people out,” says Greg Keeler, owner of Oyster Creek Canvas in Bellingham, Wash., and a fabricator for more than 25 years. “Sometimes they may not be super happy when you say something is too far gone to be repaired. But after we explain the situation, they usually understand, and sometimes we end up making something new. We could put something on the table and try to fix it, but if it’s still going to be kind of crummy after we spend hours on it, it’s probably not worth the effort.”

The hardest repairs

Keeler doesn’t hesitate when asked what kind of repairs are the most difficult.

“One-piece dodgers,” he says. “Any fabricator reading this will understand. They are really difficult to repair. A lot of times, you have to deconstruct the whole dodger to fix individual windows on them. The way they’re put together, you must take a bunch of things apart to fix them, and then put it back together.”

“Other difficult repairs would be anything that is really large,” Keeler adds. “It can be a tough deal to repair a 50-foot one-piece boat cover. Plus, we’re weather-dependent here in the Northwest. We try to schedule more inside work for wintertime. Otherwise, you get burned if you tell someone you can do something and then it rains for five weeks straight.”

In the end, while canvas repairs may not be cash cows and don’t generally make up much of a fabricator’s business, they are valuable tasks for a multitude of reasons.

“Canvas repairs are great training for us,” says Broc Wodzien, owner of Grand Traverse Canvas Works in Traverse City, Mich. “If you want your staff to visualize how something is constructed in a more forgiving environment, repairs are a good way to do it.”

“We like repairs,” adds Keeler. “It’s good for training. It’s helpful when we can put people on repairs. You’re not reinventing the wheel. It also gives you a chance to see how other people have done things and how things have been constructed.”

Most fabricators agree that the biggest issue with repairs is that boat owners often procrastinate getting them done, frequently waiting until the boating season is about to begin before remembering issues that popped up at the end of the previous season.

“Ideally, a boater will plan ahead,” says Wodzien. “They will have a work list for the off-season because they don’t want to lose any of their boating time. With people new to boating, we spend a lot of time educating them about things like that.” 

Jeff Moravec is a freelance writer based in Brooklyn Park, Minn.

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SIDEBAR: Maintenance matters

Fabricators agree on one thing: Canvas repairs are a lot less frequent when boat owners take care of their stuff.

“There are really three different kinds of customers,” says Rick Berkey, owner of Rick’s Custom Marine Canvas and Sail Repair in Cornelius, N.C. “There are customers who are diligent; they keep an eye on their boat, they take care of their cover, and they clean as needed. Those people I don’t see except about once every eight years.”

“Then there are the ones that have somewhat of a vested interest in their boat,” says Berkey. “They’re dedicating as much time as they can to it. Those are the folks who call me and say, ‘Hey, I haven’t been out to my boat for a couple of weeks. I came back and saw that the vent where the pole sits has pulled through.’”

“And then,” says Berkey, “there is the owner who uses the boat three times a year, covers it up, never sees it, then calls me and says, ‘This ripped. I don’t know why it ripped but it ripped apart.’ It’s usually very dirty—and I don’t sew on dirty covers.”

OCD is a good thing

Broc Wodzien, owner of Grand Traverse Canvas Works in Traverse City, Mich., also sees differences among his clients. “I see a huge difference for our ‘OCD’ customers—and OCD is a good thing—in how long their canvas lasts versus people who are careless or don’t maintain their things very well.”

“We’ve had customers with a sailboat dodger that we put on 20-plus years ago and somehow that thing still looks great,” he says. “But we’ll see other people where three years after we’ve done a brand-new enclosure on their powerboat or cover on their boat, it looks rough. It comes down to how thoughtful and careful the owner is.”

Helping customers understand that keeping things clean makes a big difference, says Wodzien. “Water and a light scrub to remove pollen and bird droppings, and treating fabric with a UV protectant and water-proofer makes a huge difference, and it pays off,” he says.

It also depends on how a boat owner handles the boat for the off-season. “When boats are getting shrink-wrapped or going into cold storage, how they pack things away for the off-season makes a huge difference. Rodents, moisture, mildew and mold can all do a number on a boat over the six months it will be in storage up here,” says Wodzien.

“Maintenance is amazing,” says Amanda Warren, co-owner of Yacht Canvas Inc., in Annapolis, Md. “Boats were sold in back-to-back years to two customers. One customer we see every year, and every winter, he brings in his canvas and has it washed and waterproofed, any necessary repairs are made, and then he puts it back on the boat.”

 “The other,” she says, “we had never seen before until he came in to have us remake his stuff. It was moldy, torn, just destroyed. These were made about eight months apart, and the only difference was one was maintained and the other wasn’t. It just makes an amazing difference.”