Custom Fabrication
The Spirit of Massachusetts Restaurant
Kennebunkport, Maine
The Spirit of Massachusetts is a 125’ long old tall ship/schooner that was the last tall ship built in Charlestown Harbor in Boston, Massachusetts. The woodwork, joints, masts, and rigging are beautiful. It was our company’s job to design, fabricate and install a 78’ long x 25’ wide combination of marine canvas top cover, having panels that would open up to allow patrons to view the stars at night and to see the masts and rigging. This project was also to have a full clear view enclosure to create a floating restaurant and bar, designed to hold 325 people between the upper and lower deck area. We had to deal with many obstacles; There are four sets of rope ladders coming off the top of both the main mast and the forward mast that would have to pass through both the top cover and the clear enclosure panels, as well as about 30 lines and an aft boom that would have to go through the rear of the top cover. At approximately the midpoint of the vessel, the aft deck and gunnel stepped up 11.5”, and both decks curves upward substantially forward and aft, but at a very different curve ratio. The top frame height was set by the Coastguard, but we had to establish a bottom height that would ultimately give us a straight horizontal line for the clear view panels. We also fabricated two mast boots sewn to the top of the cover for leakage, as well as two for the main deck to keep the lower dining area dry.
This project was fabricated with Precontraint 502 a strong industrial fabric that also has a very low cold crack temperature for winter use and is fire-retardant. The enclosure windows are a very high-end semi-rigid yacht window material which is a GE polycarbonate material called MR80. Which also has a silica coating that is scratch resistant. All our stitching is with Solar-Fix / Gore-Tex. All side enclosure windows hinge upward, all fasteners are all stainless steel.
In 2016 Canvasworks, Inc. won first prize internationally for this job, with “Industrial Fabric Association International. It was a great honor!
