16/02/2022
Apologies, this is a long one! After two years of debating the possibilities Saildoctor has placed an order for a Prodim ‘Proliner’, a 3D templating device for making digital patterns for sprayhoods, canopies boat covers and just about any other kind of cover or fabric structure that needs to fit a very particular, or irregular shape.
The reasons for this decision are many – we have struggled to do any templating over the winter, unsurprisingly the time that our customers would like us to do the work. Wind and rain are the enemies of all canopy makers, and although the ‘Proliner’ won’t work in the rain, it will be useable in a much wider wind range than we can currently deal with.
Secondly, we will be able to offer our customers the opportunity to commission much larger and more complex structures than is currently possible and at much higher accuracy. All-over winter yacht covers will be a relatively easy prospect and large motor-boat canopies will be possible to template without the same use of wobbly ladders, inaccessible side-decks and the real possibility of falling overboard!
Thirdly – and one of the biggest positives – is that it will seriously reduce our reliance on templating plastic. It has been a source of much debate that we needed to find an alternative. This way the templating, design, pattern-making and cutting will all be kept in the digital realm, and the pre-cut panels will be sent to us by our suppliers to be machined in-house. We will have to learn how to design canopies using 3D CAD software too, so it will be a big learning-curve. This will be the future however, and we have taken the first steps towards digital measuring.
