Specialty Fabrics Review August 2019 - 28

I will never feel like I should grow
SeaCanvas quickly just to grow
my business in my area even
though the opportunity might be
there to have a larger shop. I like
to take it in moderation.
CARL PELLEGRINI

"I started a new company, which
supplied the windsurfing industry with
padded board bags and harness lines,"
he says. "That company at one time won
magazine awards for harness line design
and exact-fit board bags."
Other accolades included supplying
harness lines to the Chinese windsurfing
team for the 1996 Summer Olympics in
Atlanta, Ga. But ironically, inexpensive
imported Chinese softgoods were making
it harder and harder to compete through
the 1990s, he says. Then Pellegrini bought
a boat, and he began meeting other boat
owners who needed custom upholstery
and canvas products. With his fabrication
skills honed through the windsurfing
business, SeaCanvas was born.
"Here I am, 19 years later, no longer
taking pictures, except with my phone, and
living by the shore," he says.

EXPANDING AND AUTOMATION
For the company's first eight years,
Pellegrini operated SeaCanvas out of his
home and his car, "working way too much,
as we do as entrepreneurs," he says. "Until
a client at a marina on a Sunday evening
told me I should be home with my family
and not working. While that thought did
change my work habits, it also said it was
time to grow my business a bit."
Pellegrini moved SeaCanvas out of
his home and into a leased shop. More
recently, the business purchased two sideby-side spaces with a total of 4,500 square
feet for an office, showroom, workshop
and storage. Seven years ago, he brought
on an employee, Gladys Maxwell, who
had previously owned an awning company
with her husband. Every morning starts
with a meeting between Pellegrini and
Maxwell to plan out the work for the day.

Snapshot
AWARD WINNER
Carl Pellegrini's emphasis on customer relationships keeps clients
coming back to SeaCanvas. "Late in 2018 we were asked by a longtime client to provide a full enclosure for his new 2019 Neptunus
65 vessel," Pellegrini says. "We were excited about designing a
complete bridge enclosure for his new boat." The project involved
replacing the existing enclosure with a new EZ2CY® enclosure. The
enclosure is track at the top and snaps on the windshield. As the
client did not want anything drilled into the windshield, the snap
line was doubled.
The forward mid-window was real glass and flipped up, but it

to the inside top of the enclosure and a full 75-foot four-piece

was too heavy and was replaced with a .080 EZ2CY window for ease

curtain was installed. The customer says it keeps the bridge 30

of use. The aft enclosure below the midrail (track-to-track and split

degrees cooler. The result is a handsome enclosure designed with

with zippers at the midrail) was solid fabric and was changed to

plenty of ventilation with flip-up windows. This project received an

EZ2CY for a clear view aft. One window on each side and the mid-aft

Outstanding Achievement Award in the Rigid Enclosures category

and mid-forward windows flip up and are secured with Common

in the 2019 Fabrication Excellence Awards, sponsored by the

Sense fasteners. To block the hot Miami sun, a zipper was added

Marine Fabricators Association.

28 REVIEW AUGUST 2019

Specialty Fabrics Review August 2019

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