Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 14

abricating frames, tubing, hardware and other items can
present a quandary for marine fabricators. It's a job that
customers need, but it's not easy work, and it can take a
pretty penny to have all the necessary equipment on hand.
But as is usually the case with fabricators, where there's
a will, there's a way. The fabricators interviewed for this
article each have different systems, capacities and specialties, but
they have all fi gured out a system that works best for them.
Work is underway here on a 56-foot
Neptunus, a joint project between
Precision Custom Canvas, which
designed the project, and Klacko Marine,
which did the welding. " We work
collaboratively, " says Precision's Jeff
Newkirk. Photo: Klacko Marine Inc.
To weld or not
Welding is a foundational capacity that
a fabricator needs to decide to do inhouse
or farm out.
" As a business owner, you have to
choose where you're going to focus your
resources, " says Jeff Newkirk, owner and
principal designer at Precision Custom
Canvas Inc., which provides custom
canvas and upholstery from its location
in St. Catharines, Ont., Canada. " The
frequency at which I need welding is not
enough to make me do it in-house.
" A small welding machine is not overly
expensive to have, but it's also a time
consideration, " says Newkirk, who has
been in business for 25 years and works
primarily on 35-to-50-foot sailboats
and cruisers. " My staff has enough to
do already, so to be able to farm something
out and have it reliably done at a
high level is worthwhile. "
It's the same case for Eric Gibson,
a fabricator for 20 years at Lesch Boat
Cover & Canvas Co., which has been in
business since 1954 in Norwalk, Ohio.
" We do a lot of metal fabrication, such
as bending of frames and custom grab
handles for frames, " says Gibson. " But
we have a local welder that occasionally
helps out on jobs that we come across
that we're not able to do. That's really
the only thing that we send out. "
Horizontal bending
Gibson uses a BendARC marine tubing
bending system, along with custom-made
crowning blocks of various
radii. " We mount the bender on the
table and bend our tubes horizontally, "
14 Marine Fabricator | January/February 2023

Marine Fabricator January/February 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Marine Fabricator January/February 2023

Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - Cover1
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - Cover2
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 1
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 2
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 3
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 4
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 5
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 6
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 7
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 8
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 9
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 10
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 11
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 12
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 13
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 14
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 15
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 16
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 17
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 18
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 19
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 20
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 21
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 22
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 23
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 24
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 25
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 26
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 27
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 28
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 29
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 30
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 31
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 32
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 33
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 34
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 35
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 36
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 37
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 38
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 39
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 40
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 41
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 42
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 43
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 44
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 45
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 46
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 47
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - 48
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - Cover3
Marine Fabricator January/February 2023 - Cover4
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-january-february-2025
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-november-december-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-september-october-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-july-august-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-may-june-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-march-april-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-tips-and-trends-supplement-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-january-february-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-november-december-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-september-october-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-july-august-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-may-june-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-march-april-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-january-february-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-november-december-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-september-october-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-july-august-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-may-june-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-march-april-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-january-february-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-november-december-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-september-october-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-july-august-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-may-june-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-march-april-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0121MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/1120MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0920MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0720MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0520MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0320MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0120MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/1119MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0919MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0719MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0519MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0319MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0119MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/1118MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0918MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0718MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0518MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0318MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0118MF
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com