Big Duck Canvas

[Jeff and Sarah]

I sat down to order a large amount of Sunbrella to make various winter covers for some outdoor furniture along with a cockpit tent for both boats and despite knowing the price before hand, I just can't bring myself to pull the trigger on $26/yd for these projects. The furniture covers don't need to be very tough- The cockpit tents need some durability but they are just to keep rain, snow, and debris (leaves) out of the cockpits during the winter. I can make a steep enough pitch and don't mind clearing snow from from time to time when needed so while snow requires some fabric strength, these aren't going to be heavy duty fairclough covers (I use the boats in the winter so quickly removable covers (i.e. simple) is just as important as durability).

I came across www.bigduckcanvas.com and they sell their marine fabric for about $9/yd. I'm sure you get what you pay for, but perhaps this canvas is good enough? I ordered their free samples and hopefully they arrive quickly. Has anyone heard of/tried this company before?

Jeff

[barfwinkle]

Jeff the last time I bought sunbrella I purchased it from (http://www.atrim.com/Page144.html) American Auto Trim & Upholstery Supply for about $15 per yd. Due to price increases they stopped carrying sunbrella and wend to a product called Recacril (no clue what it is other than replacement for sunbrella.

It might be worth a look, but I have no experience with the produce. My guess is you could find a you could find a sample somewhere just to check it out. they say it has a 10 year warranty.

Merry Christmas & FW

[Jeff and Sarah]

Thank you for the link! I'm going to look into ordering a sample from them as well. They have a pretty good color selection too.

[bottomscraper]

Can't comment on the marine canvas from Big Duck but I did purchase some factory second cotton canvas for a non-boat project from them. The product was fine, shipping was reasonable and item was shipped quickly.

[trapper]

I purchased some marine canvas and some beautiful cotton linen blend from Big Duck. Everything was reasonable. I actually drove down there to look at the fabrics and purchased quite a lot for my winter projects.

I dont buy first run sunbrella. If I were doing this for money, I might but I have had very good luck gettin good material at bargain prices. I have purchased Sunbrella Firesta for $6 a year (retail $30). Big Duck did not have the "sunbrella" brand. There was a day when I would not buy if it was not sunbrella but their process is now out of patent (so I understand) and others are making good quality comparable fabrics for much much less.

The material that I purchased from Big Duck was a little light weight but it was very nice to work with. I have found even the heavy sunbrella looks really good for only 2 to 3 seasons in our South Carolina sun, so I am happy to move to a lighter material that is eaiser to work with and eaiser to handle on the boat when it is going to last about the same amount of time.

[Jeff and Sarah]

I received the samples from Big Duck and the marine canvas was too thin for the projects I want to do. They did send a couple other types of fabric samples along as well, but none are what I am looking for. I ended up ordering 20 yards of CoastGuard (made by the same folks as Sunbrella) last night from another company (A1 Foam). It runs about $15/yard which is still considerably cheaper than Sunbrella but almost twice as expensive as Big Duck Marine Canvas.

I'll keep Big Duck in mind for other projects in the future though as their prices do seem reasonable.

[mashenden]

Oddly, Sailrite's prices usually show up cheaper once they go into the cart. I just bought 60" Sunbrella for under $20/yd and the 46" is about $16.95. Free shipping over $99.

[Jeff and Sarah]

That is odd, but you are right! Great to know for the next fabric order.