Full Schedule

William Bransford, Boatswains Locker
Discover a variety of special tools and attachments used to enhance and expedite the production of marine canvas products. Key takeaways include:

• Custom tools for enclosure parts
• Various hand tools to save time
• Different methods of finishing parts
• Patterns and the advantage of saving them
• Sewing machine improvements that improve sewing skills

Steve Szenay, Serge Ferrari North America and Ron Paratore, Trivantage, LLC
This session features a hands-on demonstration for making a shade sail. A mockup display of a completed shade sail will be available for attendees to examine. Steve will discuss how to layout a shade sail, patterning and cutting as well as how to attach the shade sail to the boat with fasteners and shade sail poles. Steve’s presentation will also cover installing a rod holder into the deck of a boat for the support poles as well as how to select the perfect type of materials for this application.

Tour local fabricator Laporte in North Charleston, SC in person and virtually tour Marine Tops Unlimited, Precision Custom Canvas Inc., and Tecsew. This is an excellent opportunity to learn how other shops are laid out and how they organize equipment and materials. Plan to ask lots of questions and bring a pen to jot down ideas for streamlining your business!

Whitney Carman, Even Keel Canvas

Everything made by hand involves some aspect of trial and error. Managing error is artist tact. Whitney will be sharing her expertise and showing the error prevention habits that have helped preserve profit. “Progressing slowly forward is better than a big step backward.”

Moderator: Derek Robinson, Eqodry USA & Fabric Tattoo
Speakers: To be announced 

This popular session from Marine Fabricators Conference 2020 is coming back with new projects! Attendees at the 2020 conference suggested that we bring this great educational opportunity to a community college – and we listened!

Once again, a team of fabricators will work together to take on a variety of projects and give a boat (or two!) a canvas facelift – offering a great opportunity for the students in the Boat Building program at the Beaufort County Community College (BCCC) to see real-world canvas applications. Hear about the individual projects and the ways this project impacted the community around them. Case studies will be presented with design, fabrication, and workflow considerations. The finished boat(s) will be onsite for attendees to view.

Taste what Charleston has to offer with a variety of local food trucks to select from.

Located on the show floor.

John Martin Ph.D, Home Power Hour

Learn about the when, if and how to utilize solar and wind on a vessel, battery/energy storage limitations, connection issues including best practices and liability coverage. Also covered will be what solar/wind “can do” and just as importantly, “cannot do” on most vessels (e.g. not feasible for “most vessels” to have air condition on all night powered by solar/wind).

Dr. Martin’s academic training and real-life work with small companies implementing sustainable power come together in this down-to-earth presentation. Additionally, a small working tabletop “balance of system” (solar, charge controller, battery, inverter) will be available to show how the entire system works.

Torey Heinz, Shopflow
What is a digital job board and why bother having one? A digital job board is a way to organize and display jobs so you can streamline your shop and escape the chaos! Find out if you are ready to get started as we follow a simple workflow from start to finish, dig into the details of a complicated job, and discuss how to implement a digital job board to maximize your throughput.

Learn more about the Marine Fabricators Association. Hear a recap of the past year’s events and look to the future while enjoying a tasty brunch.

This interactive discussion explores the newest tools, clever tips and tricks to make your job faster and easier. Vote for your favorites onsite.

Industry leaders using a range of different technologies in their shops will compare and contrast the different versions of digital patterning as well as the various methods that are widely used for traditional patterning. We will dive into the important questions and concerns that all fabricators have before considering moving to digital patterning, exploring the pros and cons that are easy to see as well as some of the unforeseen. Hear and learn from your industry colleagues that have made the transition to digital patterning and see how it worked for them.

Moderator: Vince Innocenzi, Chicago Marine Canvas
This product showcase is your chance to view sample “U Zip” enclosure windows from a variety of fabricators. View the many different styles and methods of making these window products while engaging in the individual fabricators and learning new ways to enhance your own projects.

Gather together one last time and celebrate award-winning projects, industry achievements and the announcement of the welcome party theme for Marine Fabricators Conference 2023. Dinner and refreshments are provided at this commemorative closing event.