A newly installed three-piece custom AquaMat® set that was made from Teak II Slate AquaWeave™ on a 2008 Formula 27PC. In our second year of business at River Custom Canvas LLC, we were looking for an add-on product to offer customers and recognized a demand for marine flooring. We met with vendors at the Miami [...]

Photo: 74311385 © Rawpixelimages | Dreamstime.com I was recently speaking with one of my coaching clients and the subject of professional curiosity came up. Curiosity is a catalyst for creativity, problem-solving and continuous improvement.  By creating a culture of curiosity, we can tap into the collective creativity of the people who work with us and for [...]

Snap hooks are an easy way to attach sail shades and frame straps using a common deck-eye (or pad-eye) mount. After 20 years of teaching the art of canvas-making and fabricating canvas for our customers, I have become a whistleblower on myself. Seeking humility requires a true confession, after all. Even the best shops fall [...]

There are still some clients who love classic canvas awnings. The frames and skins of these unique awnings were fabricated for Boozer’s Brew in Gulfport, Miss. Remember that old saying “If you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life?” Well, when too many days in a row end with [...]

Traditional leadership philosophies focus on what it takes for a leader to have sway over a team, to drive toward an outcome and to create coordinated movement. These aspects of reaching a goal are critical components of leadership, but they are one-dimensional. Four-dimensional leadership asks leaders to enhance their abilities by developing additional leadership dimensions, [...]

When I think about why our customers keep coming back boat after boat, year after year, I find peace knowing they have been very pleased with their canvas. We have seen customers return for new canvas after we did their original project 15 or more years ago. They say, “We came back to you because [...]

A picture of the finished product. Making a choice can be hard when there are endless options, and that’s exactly how it can feel for customers trying to select fabrics and materials for an upholstery project, including proper colors, textures and materials. It’s best for a marine shop to have an established plan for helping [...]

ID 105098069 © Peshkova | Dreamstime.com When we think of assets in an organization, our thoughts generally lean toward the accounting definitions. We have cash tied up in inventory and accounts receivable. We have cash tied up in equipment or other fixed assets. And, we have cash tied up in, well, cash. These are all [...]

The author says that always striving to do your best work, with the best materials, on each project means you'll always have happy customers. If you read this magazine with any regularity, you will see many examples of excellence on these pages. These artistic fabricators are perfectionists when it comes to the art of canvas [...]

The design inspiration for how to shape and build the new aft bench was taken from the boat’s existing front bucket seats. Using the angles and shapes from those cushions helped the team visualize the shape of a new aft bench. Where do you begin when you have a blank slate? We recently had a [...]