Marine Fabricator January/February 2020 - 26

TAILORED PROTECTION

abricators at Fairwinds Canvas LLC, Racine, Wis., enjoy
working on new boats because they offer the opportunity

to create a unique solution rather than having the design be
dictated by old framework. This was the case when a client
reached out to Fairwinds for a custom dodger/bimini enclosure
for a new Catalina 445. "He was looking to completely enclose
the cockpit to allow for a more comfortable extended sailing
season," says Kathryn Maisto, Fairwinds founder and owner.
"These designs are very prevalent in our area due to such a
short and buggy season."
The client wanted the maximum frame height allowed by
the rigging of the boat and maximum coverage from the sun.
Most importantly, the "princess seats" in the stern needed to be
covered and yet usable without the enclosure impeding the
crew in the seats. This posed an aesthetic challenge because
the seats extended outward. Bringing canvas past the natural
stern of a boat is not customary but required with this particular
model, Maisto says.

back after deciding that the benefits
wouldn't justify the expense, and because
she wants to continue the traditional art of
marine canvas fabrication.
"The bigger the boat, a lot of people will
go to a two-step patterning system because
they simply don't know the techniques of
bringing a three-dimensional pattern together into a flat plane," she says. "We've
become so intricate and really good at how
we do this that literally, I have a handful of
clients for whom we will travel anywhere
in the world for their vessel, and we can
pattern that boat. We do not have to have
the boat here in Racine, Wis. We can take
this technology and go anywhere, pattern,
and bring those patterns back to our shop,
and fabricate. Which really opens up a lot
of opportunity."
Today, she considers Fairwinds to be
a "big boat" fabricator-she doesn't take
on work involving a smaller boat, unless
it's a favored client-and she turns down
a lot of work. The company's strength,
she says, is in its integrity. Too many marine fabricators take on too many projects, without having the employees to
handle them.
"I've never allowed the company to
succumb to cutting corners or promise something that we can't meet, or do
whatever it takes to get ahead," she says.
"My thought is that once you choose to
go down those roads, your employees will
follow. And soon, you lose the trust relationships between employer and employee. They are the most valued treasure in
the company."

"We designed using 1¼-inch stainless bringing the frame
past the stern pulpit to accommodate comfortable sitting in
the back as he requested," she says. "We were able to tailor
the canvas around the seats, so from the stern it was pleasing
to the eye. The dodger was fabricated with Rainier Diamond
Windows for optimum clarity, and the enclosure with .040 ml
Strataglass with U-shape windows and screens incorporated for
ventilation and roll-up ability for those more than balmy days.
"The client was thrilled with the end result and contacted us
at the end of the season to do a full winter storage boat cover
as well," she adds.
26 Marine Fabricator | Jan/Feb 2020

Invest in yourself
In the 1980s film "Heartbreak Ridge,"
Clint Eastwood popularized an unofficial
Marine slogan, "Improvise, adapt,
overcome." Maisto has taken that on as
a business philosophy for the training
center, along with the mantra, "Invest in
yourself, and others will invest in you."
The training center didn't happen
overnight. Maisto developed manuals

Marine Fabricator January/February 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Marine Fabricator January/February 2020