What to Check Before a Made-to-Measure Sprayhood or Bimini in Mallorca

A sprayhood or bimini is one of those jobs where the difference between a good year and a frustrating one is decided long before anyone cuts cloth. Get the checks right and you end up with canvas that sits clean on the frame and sheds spray the way it was designed to. Get them wrong and you spend the summer fighting flutter, ponding, and a zip that never quite lines up.

These are the questions we’d want answered before committing money to a cover anywhere, and they are the ones we work through with owners at our Palma workshop. BJ and Melanie Simons founded it in Son Oms to build marine canvas the way race sailmakers build sails: measured, patterned, and made to the boat rather than adapted from a stock kit.

Key Insights

Before you book a made-to-measure sprayhood or bimini in Mallorca, you’re really checking four things: how the boat is patterned, what cloth is specified and why, when the slot actually falls, and who takes the pattern. Each check removes a common failure mode, and none of them needs you to be a canvas expert.

Table of Contents

• Check one: how the boat is patterned
• Check two: what cloth is specified, and why
• Check three: when the slot actually falls
• Check four: who takes the pattern
• FAQ

Check one: how the boat is patterned

A cover is only as accurate as the shapes it was cut from. So ask directly how the maker captures the geometry of your boat. A good workshop either measures the frame in person, or patterns remotely from CAD data, dimensioned photographs, and a structured set of measurements you take under guidance.

We call our approach Race-First Design. The frame and the cloth are treated as one engineered assembly, so the cloth is designed around the stainless hoop it will spend its life on.

Remote patterning is genuinely viable when it is done rigorously. It’s how we serve owners whose boats sit outside Mallorca, or who are mid-season somewhere else, so don’t assume that in-person measuring is the only honest method.

What you should refuse is guesswork. A cover quoted off a rough sketch and a hopeful eye will almost always need remaking, and that is the outcome this checklist exists to prevent.

Check two: what cloth is specified, and why

Cloth is where most owners are told the least and should ask the most. Marine canvas is a family of materials with very different behaviour in UV, salt, and folding, so the right question is not “what colour” but “what cloth, in what weight, for what job.”

We work primarily in Weathermax and Serge Ferrari because both hold up to Mediterranean UV without going stiff or chalky in a season. Each cloth is chosen for a different role. Weathermax LT is our lighter acrylic-alternative cloth for covers where weight and clean drape matter, while the soft-lined Weathermax SG (Surface Guard) is specified where the underside is seen and touched, such as a bimini you sit under every day. From Serge Ferrari we use the Stamoid range where a wipe-clean, low-porosity finish earns its place, and Soltis 86 or Soltis 96 where a tensioned, dimensionally stable technical mesh or membrane suits the structure better than a woven cloth.

BJ puts the specification test simply: “I push them to use the high-end stuff.” Naming the cloth is the point, because a maker who can’t tell you the exact cloth and weight going onto your boat, and why, hasn’t yet designed your cover.

Weathermax is produced by Safety Components, and their marine fabric documentation sets out the UV specification you are relying on. It’s worth reading the source rather than the sales sheet (see the manufacturer material at weathermax.com). Serge Ferrari publish their own technical data for the Stamoid and Soltis ranges, including the composite membrane construction that gives them their stability. That is exactly the kind of primary reference a careful owner should check (sergeferrari.com).

Check three: when the slot actually falls

Timing is the check owners in Mallorca most often leave too late. Our build is typically six to eight weeks from a confirmed deposit, and the sequence is deliberate: Brief, then Measure, then Build, then Fit and Refine.

Slots are first-come, first-served, and a deposit secures your place in the queue, with the balance due on completion. We do not bump existing clients to fit a newer job in. That is a policy you should actively want, because it is the same policy that protects your slot once you have booked it.

The Fit and Refine stage is structural. The cover is tried on the boat and adjusted there, and that is most of why a made-to-measure cover behaves differently from a stock one. So if you need canvas ready for a specific cruise or handover, count backwards from that date, add the fit stage, and book early.

One Mallorca-specific point is worth knowing on process. Measuring and fitting at berths inside the Palma ports is part of our normal published workflow, while boats lying elsewhere on the island are handled as a scheduled visit or through remote patterning. That’s a logistics distinction. Either route produces a cover built to the same standard from the same cloth.

Check four: who takes the pattern

Patterning is the stage where a made-to-measure cover is genuinely made to measure, or quietly is not. So ask whether the workshop that quotes you is the workshop that takes the pattern, or whether that stage is passed to someone else. The pattern is where every decision about your frame and your deck geometry gets captured.

In our case the answer is simple. Patterning, cutting, sewing, and fitting all run from the one 320 m2 workshop in Son Oms, whether the pattern is taken at a Palma berth or built remotely from CAD, photographs, and measurements you take under our guidance.

Taken together, the four checks tell you whether the maker has genuinely engineered your cover or approximated it. You can see how we structure the work end to end on our process page, and the full specification of what we build lives on our custom canvas service page. If you’d rather start with the questions other owners ask, our FAQ collects the common ones in one place.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you have to measure my boat in person, or can you build remotely?

Either works, and both are done to the same standard. For boats berthed in the Palma ports, in-person measuring and fitting is part of our normal workflow, and boats elsewhere on the island are handled as a scheduled visit.

For owners outside Mallorca, or mid-season elsewhere, we pattern remotely from CAD data, dimensioned photographs, and a structured set of measurements you take under our guidance. That is a rigorous method, worked to the same specification as an in-person pattern.

What cloth will you use for my sprayhood or bimini?

We specify the cloth to the job. Weathermax LT is used where light weight and clean drape matter, the soft-lined Weathermax SG (Surface Guard) where the underside is seen and touched, and Serge Ferrari Stamoid or Soltis 86/96 where a wipe-clean or tensioned technical finish suits the structure better.

We’ll tell you the exact cloth and weight going onto your boat and the reason for it before any deposit is placed.

How long does a made-to-measure cover take?

Typically six to eight weeks from a confirmed deposit, moving through Brief, Measure, Build, and Fit and Refine.

The fit stage is where the cover is tried on the boat and adjusted, so plan your booking to include it. The cover isn’t finished when it leaves the sewing floor.

How do I secure a slot, and could I be bumped later?

A deposit secures your place, with the balance due on completion, and slots run first-come, first-served.

We do not bump existing clients to fit in a newer job, which is the same policy that protects your slot once it is booked.

Where is the workshop?

Our only workshop and headquarters is in Palma, a 320 m2 space at Cami Canal de Sant Jordi 29, Local 9, 07199 Palma, in Son Oms.

Everything is patterned, cut, sewn, and fitted from there.

Citations

• “Stamoid, Serge Ferrari’s marine protective fabric range” : The Stamoid range is a family of waterproof, UV-resistant marine fabrics engineered to protect boats, crews and onboard equipment at sea. This is the primary technical reference for the Serge Ferrari cloth we specify, so an owner checking the spec can read the manufacturer directly rather than a sales sheet. source
• “Marine – WeatherMAX” : WeatherMAX filament yarns retract to their original shape after load rather than sagging like acrylics, and its ColorTite pigmentation and dense weave support marine UV longevity and dimensional stability. This is the primary technical reference for the Weathermax cloths named in the checklist, so an owner can verify the specification at the source. source
• “GORE TENARA Sewing Thread for Outdoor and Marine Applications” : GORE TENARA ePTFE sewing thread carries its UV resistance in the fibre itself rather than in a coating and is specified for marine seams on covers and biminis. Seams fail before cloth, so thread specification is a legitimate item on any pre-booking checklist. source

Related Reading

• For the full scope of what we make and the cloths we hold, see our custom canvas service page at loftcustoms.com/services/custom-canvas/.
• To understand the Brief, Measure, Build, Fit and Refine sequence in detail, read loftcustoms.com/the-process/.
• For the common questions owners and crew ask before booking, our loftcustoms.com/faq/ page collects them in one place.
• Start the brief here: https://loftcustoms.com/start-the-brief/.