< Bob Your comments regarding shelter-rite are very interesting but leave me needing to know more. Is this a do it yourself product? A question has already been asked about the welding you mentioned. Can this be sewn by a good sail-rite type machine? I went to the shelter-rite website and they seem to be a wholesale operation. Will they sell me small quantities? If this isn't do it yourself, would a good canvas shop be able to handle this? You're shop is a bit far for me to visit by boat, not that I wouldn't like to! Can repairs be done do it yourself? > Shelter-Rite, sews very well with no stitch hole elongation, at least sewing with Gore-Tex Tenara thread yields seams that don't leak. On our traditional bow bimini tops we sew the curved intermediate bow pockets to a rectangular piece of Shelter-Rite and then weld that to the top so there aren't any stitch holes. As this takes a lot of time and some customers, never trawler owners, just don't appreciate that extra touch and expense, we have also sewn the pockets and haven't had any complaints about seam leakage. So yes, it will sew well on a Sail-Rite machine with the proper needle and thread. Shelter-Rite is distributed by most of the fabric distributors, like Astrup and John Boyle, both of which are now owned by Glenn Raven Mills, the company that makes Sunbrella. Both are wholesale as well, but may sell short yards or send you to one of their customers in your area. Minimum order is usually five yards and there may be a cut charge. Repairs are easy as patches can be adhered with 5200, after roughing both surfaces. This fabric has one odd characteristic, which is that it shrinks in the sun, so that the top you installed during the day and got as tight as you thought you possible could, will not be as tight the next morning. For a lace on top it means that you will have to retention in the early morning or evening. A standard bimini has enough give in the straps that it won't be noticed. Go figure, everything else we use expands in the sun and heat. Bob Phillips, Another Asylum, Tortola, BVI