Mike's Marine Custom Canvas

Six months after putting new curtains (top of line materials selected), ran into two problems. I removed a rear side curtain and had to really struggle to put it back. 1) No allowance for shrinkage was made. Fit was great brand new. ...My experience 8 months later... After one rear side had been off for about 4 weeks and I tried to put it back, the turn snaps missed the curtain holes by 1/2"". Took *lots* of levering and pulling to get back on. Still didn't seat the turn snaps well and they are very strained. 2) I got the welt / slide rail option. Rails extend too far aft and there is interference from the hardtop bars. I cut about an inch off the end of the rail and now the welt will slide into the rail. Overall, was a good job, but with two annoyances. If shrinkage allowances had been made the curtains might have looked a little loose at first but would fit better in the long run. I'm concerned the turn fasteners are going to fail since they are so strained and distorted. Might need to remount them... more

Mike and his two sons do great work. I contacted Mike and we discussed a couple of possible dates to do the patterning of my boat enclosure. He set aside two dates and met me on time after I nailed down a date and time. He and his sons spent the better part of an entire day working on the pattern. Mike will do exactly what you want but he will also make suggestions as to how to improve the design in regards to look as well as durability. Installation took one day and was completed two weeks after the patterning. Mike was recommended to me by a friend who said Mike was the best in town and I feel completely comfortable offering the same recommendation to anyone in need of his services. Pros: Friendly, hard working, great designs, knowledgeable more

I remember a few years ago trying to get some canvas work done. I keep the boat in Portsmouth and looked around the marina at some of the canvas on the other boats. I liked the quality and finish of Mike's work. I contacted him numerous times and he never called me back. When he finally called me back, I couldn't get him over to the boat to discuss what I wanted. I sent him pictures of what I wanted (dodger and bimini) and he said that he was really busy. I told him to just put me on the list and call me when he had an opening. He never called. He then used the excuse that he was moving his shop, etc. Bottom line- if you can get him to do it, then the work looks good, but he's not interested in following up with anyone. He must have so much business that it just doesn't matter to him. I tried to be flexible on the job size- what would be interesting to him? $1K, 3K, 10K?? it didn't matter. He has very poor customer service skills and treats potential serious customers very poorly. The good news is that while I was waiting for him to call me back, I got so annoyed that I bought a Singer 20u industrial sewing machine, learned to sew and have been making my own stuff ever since- Thanks Mike! ha ha ha. Pros: Looks like good quality work Cons: Doesn't call back. Feel like you have to beg him to do the work. more