The right industrial sewing machine can make or break a shop owner’s success in the exacting, often fast-paced world of marine fabrication. Making the correct choice can streamline production, increase profitability and minimize unnecessary stress. Photo: © Evgeniy Parilov | Dreamstime.com Every fabrication shop owner knows that choosing the right industrial sewing machine can make [...]

When securing one thing to another thing, the project often dictates the method, which is why in most shops you’ll find an array of attachment tools and hardware. Still, some are relied on more than others, inspiring us to wonder—what fasteners and attachment tools can’t marine fabricators do without? Here’s what they told us.  Stayput [...]

Since 2018, Chicago Marine Canvas has outgrown three locations and expanded its staff. Owner Vince Innocenzi’s pride in his company’s projects extends to aesthetics. “You want to protect the boat and its occupants, but…you want to make it look beautiful.” The enclosure shown won an Outstanding Achievement Award in the 2023 MFA Fabrication Excellence Awards. [...]

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 [...]

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 perfectly acceptable definitions of organizational assets. [...]

Innovation relies on a hard-to-define mix of creative ideas mingled with nuts-and-bolts skills. Harnessing and honing both can help you design and execute creative, successful and profitable projects. It can also help prevent the burnout that commonly hits at this time of year thanks to punishing work schedules that can dull your edge and lead [...]

Registration is open, and the full conference schedule is available for the annual Marine Fabricators Conference being held Jan. 9–11, 2025, at the Omni Corpus Christi Hotel in Corpus Christi, Texas. The conference features three full days of education and networking designed to help marine fabricators cultivate industry connections, improve their efficiency and increase revenue. [...]

The Marine Fabricators Association (MFA) provides resources and programs for marine fabricators and establishes standards of excellence for business practices, products and craftsmanship. The MFA is a division of the Advanced Textiles Association, formerly known as IFAI. Join the only trade association today that represents the entire specialty fabrics and advanced textiles industry in the [...]

All calendar events are subject to change. Please check websites for updated information. Sept. 24–26, 2024Advanced Textiles Expo 2024 Anaheim Convention CenterAnaheim, Calif.advancedtextilesexpo.com Oct. 17–18, 2024MFA Southeast Regional Workshop Great Lakes Boat TopsVonore, Tenn.textiles.org/marineworkshops Nov. 15–16, 2024MFA Great Lakes Regional Workshop Marine Tops UnlimitedOmro, Wis.textiles.org/marineworkshops Jan. 9–11, 2025Marine Fabricators Conference Omni Corpus Christi HotelCorpus Christi, Texastextiles.org/marineconference