Project study / Altima 61
Altima 61 exterior upholstery.
A fresh look, built around comfort.
Canvas Designers redesigned the exterior upholstery on an Altima 61 with white and Cadet Grey Sunbrella Horizon Textil and in-house double-diamond quilting. The project connected four seating areas, improved shallow settees and created a custom bow sunbed with adjustable backrests, headrests and two drink-and-storage caddies.
- Project scope
- Four seating areas
- Material
- Sunbrella Horizon Textil
- Color palette
- White + Cadet Grey
- Quilted in house
- 2 × 2 double diamond
The transformation / Bow sunbed
From bare deck
to a place to unwind.
The starting point was an uncovered bow with uneven surfaces and a central hatch. The finished sunbed brings together shaped cushions, adjustable backrests, four headrests and two drink-and-storage caddies.
Before and after views show the same bow area from different camera positions.
01 / The brief
One design.
Four places to enjoy it.
The owner had recently bought the boat and wanted a fresh, modern look for the exterior upholstery. A coordinated white-and-gray palette was the starting point. Making each space more comfortable became the real design work.
We carried the same double-diamond quilting through the aft settee, flybridge settee, bow cushions and helm chairs. Each area needed its own shapes and construction, but the finished upholstery needed to read as one design.
It became a project about geometry: where a seat supports your legs, how a backrest meets the boat and how a repeating pattern moves across a curved surface.
02 / Better seat geometry
A better seat starts beneath the upholstery.
Both settees were short on usable seat depth. Recovering them alone would have kept the same uncomfortable proportions.
Flybridge settee
A two-level plastic base lifted the seat cushions up and over a fiddle that had limited usable depth. The backrests wrapped up and over the back edge, extending up and aft so their shallow two-inch depth looked more substantial.
Aft settee
A drop in the seat design allowed an extended knee roll. That gained four inches of seating comfort without moving the boat’s structure.
4 inchesAdditional seating comfort at the aft settee.
03 / A new use for the bow
A sunbed where there
was no sunbed.
The bow brought uneven surfaces, tight dimensional limits and an area that had never been designed for cushions. We shaped the new sunbed around those constraints, with adjustable lift-up backrests and coordinated quilted panels.
Useful details, integrated.
Two matching entertainment caddies provide drinks and storage within the cushion layout. Gray headrests and rolled edges continue the contrast used throughout the boat.
The quilted panels were aligned across the bow so the elongated diamonds read consistently from one cushion to the next. Keeping that rhythm on an uneven, curved surface was one of the most exacting parts of the job.
04 / A coordinated finish
The same design, all the way to the helm.
The helm chairs complete the visual connection between the four seating areas. White quilted inserts sit within gray contrast panels, echoing the settees and bow cushions while following the chairs’ existing shapes.
The repeating pattern gives the exterior a consistent finish without asking every seat to be built the same way.
Materials / Workmanship
A restrained palette.
A precise repeat.
Sunbrella Horizon Textil in White and Cadet Grey provides the material palette. In-house CNC quilting gives the custom panels their consistent double-diamond pattern.
Horizon Textil White
The primary quilted panels across the bow, settees and helm seating.
Horizon Textil Cadet Grey
Contrast panels, bolsters, perimeter rolls and other upholstered edges.
2 × 2 double-diamond quiltingCNC stitched in house, with the panel layout coordinated across each seating area. Explore custom quilting.
Additional fabricationPolished stainless steel dress plates were also made for the interior door faces.
Project questions
The details behind
the finished look.
What was included in this Altima 61 upholstery project?
The upholstery scope covered the aft settee, flybridge settee, bow sunbed and helm chairs. White and Cadet Grey Sunbrella Horizon Textil and coordinated 2 × 2 double-diamond quilting connected all four areas.
How did the team improve the shallow settees?
On the flybridge, a two-level plastic seat base lifted the cushions up and over a fiddle that limited usable depth. The backrest cushions wrapped up and over the back edge, extending up and aft so their shallow two-inch depth looked more substantial. At the aft settee, a drop in the seat design allowed an extended knee roll and gained four inches of seating comfort without moving the boat’s structure.
How was the custom bow sunbed designed?
The bow had uneven surfaces and tight dimensional limits. Canvas Designers developed custom-shaped cushions and adjustable lift-up backrests for that space, then aligned the quilted panels across the cushion layout. Two matching caddies added eight cupholders and two storage openings.
Which material and quilting pattern were used?
The main quilted panels use Sunbrella Horizon Textil in White. Cadet Grey provides contrast on bolsters, edges and other panels. Canvas Designers CNC stitched the 2 × 2 double-diamond quilted panels in house and coordinated the pattern across the seating areas.
How can I discuss a similar upholstery project?
Contact Canvas Designers in Riviera Beach, Florida, with your boat make and model, the areas you want to update and clear photos of the existing seating. An assessment of the shapes, support surfaces and available space helps define a suitable custom approach.
The project team
Design
Mike Erickson
Fabrication
Robert Erickson, Mike Erickson, Lindsey Jacobs, Billy Jerls and Rohan Chin-Sang
Installation
Robert Erickson