Marine Exterior Upholstery

The customer had recently bought the boat and wanted a fresh modern look on the exterior upholstery. That was the brief. The job turned out to be mostly about geometry.

The Brief

Sunbrella Horizon Textil in white and cadet grey, run through Canvas Designers' 2 x 2 double diamond quilted panels. The pattern went across the aft settee, the flybridge settee, the bow area and the helm chairs, so the whole exterior reads as one design instead of four separate recovers

Fixing Seating That Was Too Shallow

Both settees were very short in depth. Recovering them would have produced a nicer looking seat that was still uncomfortable to sit in.

On the flybridge settee the shop wrapped the backrest cushions up and over the back edge, extending them up and aft so a 2-inch depth reads thicker than it is. The base cushions went onto a two-level plastic base, which lifted them up and over a fiddle that had been cutting the usable seat depth short.

In the aft settee the shop added a drop to the seats. That allowed an extended knee roll and gained 4 more inches of seating comfort without moving any of the boat's structure.

A Sunbed Where There Was No Sunbed

The bow was the hardest part. Unlevel surfaces, dimension limits, and a customer who wanted a full sunbed setup on an area that was never designed to carry cushions.

The shop designed adjustable lift-up backrests and two entertainment caddies for drinks and storage, then lined up the in-house quilted panels across the whole area so the diamonds run true from one cushion to the next. Matching quilting across an unlevel curved surface is the part that takes the time, and it is the part you notice if it is wrong.

In the owner's words, it became the best seat in the house.

The Materials

  • Sunbrella Horizon Textil, White (Glen Raven Custom Fabrics) — Primary quilted panels across all seating.
  • Sunbrella Horizon Textil, Cadet Grey (Glen Raven Custom Fabrics) — Contrast panels, bolsters and edges.
  • Polished stainless steel dress plates — Interior door faces.
  • 2 x 2 Double Diamond Quilting — CNC stitched in house.

The Team

Design: Mike Erickson. Fabrication: Robert Erickson, Mike Erickson, Lindsey Jacobs, Billy Jerls and Rohan Chin-Sang. Installation: Robert Erickson.

Canvas Designers Inc., Riviera Beach, Florida.