Vancouver's Award-Winning Marine Canvas Studio
Custom yacht enclosures, dodgers, and bimini tops — designed by a Certified Master Fabric Craftsman with a career in engineering.
Certified Master Fabric Craftsman Marine Exterior Specialty
2025 International Achievement Award for Powerboat - Rigid Enclosures
2025 Advanced Textiles Association Best of Canada Award
2026 MFA Fabrication Excellence Award for Sailboat Enclosures
A different standard of marine canvas work
Salty Buoy is a marine fabrication studio in Vancouver, BC, specializing in custom enclosures, dodgers, and bimini tops for sailboats, powerboats, and luxury yachts.
What sets us apart is not the range of what we build — it is the precision and discipline brought to how we build it. Every project begins with instrument-grade measurement and ends with CNC-fabricated panels designed in CAD. In between is a fabrication process shaped by a career in mechanical engineering and the highest professional credential in the marine canvas trade.
We take on a limited number of projects each year. That is not a capacity constraint — it is a quality decision. If your vessel deserves that level of attention, we would like to hear about it.
Products / Services
CUSTOM MARINE ENCLOSURES
Full enclosures for luxury yachts, flybridges, and sailboat cockpits. Premium semi-rigid panel systems in polycarbonate or bonded clear acrylic — each precision-fitted to your vessel. Bonded acrylic delivers the optical clarity and finish standard of the work that earned our 2025 International Achievement Award.
CUSTOM SAILBOAT DODGERS
Spray dodgers designed in CAD and fabricated to the exact geometry of your cockpit, companionway, and deck hardware. Stainless steel frames are bent to CAD specification and fitted with premium fabrics — built to perform in Pacific Northwest conditions season after season.
CUSTOM BIMINI TOPS
Structural bimini tops for sailboats, powerboats, and flybridge yachts. CAD-designed frames with CNC plotted canvas panels ensure precise fit and consistent finish across every project. Built for the exposure and UV demands of extended Pacific Northwest use.
Built with engineering precision
Vessel geometry captured with the Leica iCS50 — a professional measurement instrument, not a tape measure
Every frame and panel designed digitally before fabrication begins. Fit confirmed in the model, not discovered on the boat.
Panels cut by CNC plotter to exact digital dimensions. Your project stored as a permanent digital file.
A look at the craftsmanship and precision behind a custom Salty Buoy yacht enclosure.
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A semi-rigid acrylic enclosure replaces traditional soft vinyl enclosure panels with optically clear, semi-rigid acrylic sheets bonded directly to a fabric border. The result is significantly better visibility, a cleaner aesthetic, and a longer service life than vinyl alternatives. At Salty Buoy, acrylic panels are precision-bonded and fitted to custom CAD-designed frames, producing an enclosure that meets the optical and finish standards expected on a luxury yacht.
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Most marine canvas fabricators use physical tape or paper templates and hand-cut fabric panels. Salty Buoy uses instrument-grade measurement with the Leica iCS50, CAD design for both frames and panels, and CNC pattern plotted for all fabrication. This methodology — drawn from a career background in mechanical engineering — produces a level of dimensional accuracy and fit consistency that traditional methods cannot reliably achieve.
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Timeline depends on vessel size and project complexity. For a full enclosure on a larger yacht, clients should anticipate several weeks from initial consultation to installation — including design review, material sourcing, fabrication, and fitting. Because Salty Buoy takes on a limited number of projects at a time, we recommend reaching out as early as possible, particularly for projects planned around the spring and summer season.
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Yes. Our largest and most technically complex projects have been on motor yachts and sailing yachts where fit tolerance, material quality, and visual finish are non-negotiable. The precision measurement and CAD-based design process we use scales particularly well to larger vessels, where small measurement errors compound across long panel runs. The 2025 award-winning project was a full enclosure for a luxury motor yacht.
