Meet the Hoods
Mark went to work for his father, Bruce, in the polyurethane foam manufacturing business. While developing sewn products and working with contract sewing houses in New Bedford and Fall River, Mark took a sewing machine, and a home business was born. He started by designing and stitching custom bags of all types. Mark left his father's business in 1981 to run Hood Canvas full time, and quickly started fabricating canvas products for boats. He wanted to be the best in the business, which led him to a friendship with Ralph Hulsman of the Oakum Bay Canvas Co. in Marblehead. Ralph helped inspire and fine tuned Mark's fabrication skills. Mark and Deb moved to Amesbury, MA and rented a large mill space in downtown Amesbury from which they ran Hood Canvas.
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Hood Canvas grew to the point where they were able to buy their own commercial facility on Rte 110 in Merrimac, MA in 2002. This is our current location. Mark spends many days in Marblehead fabricating canvas and interiors for his brother and boat builder Chris Hood of CW Hood Yachts. Mark and Deb run Hood Canvas together and truly care about the level of quality and fit for all their customers.
Mark Hood grew up in a sailing family in Marblehead, MA, and the nephew of renowned sailor and boat builder Ted Hood. Both his father and uncle were successful America's Cup sailors. After graduating from Franklin Pierce College in 1978 with a B.S. in business, he married his wife Deb who also grew up in Marblehead.
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Mark has been continuously perfecting the performance of his canvas products by observing their performance on open water cruises from New England to Bermuda and the Caribbean. These blue water trips give him the ability to see first hand how his designs perform in all types of weather; sun, storm, wind and wave. This open water performance knowledge is built into each Hood Canvas product.
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Over the past twelve years Mark and Deb have been training student fabricators around the world at their marine canvas school. Many are now running successful marine canvas shops today. Mark is a MFC (Certified Master Fabric Craftsman) and has written numerous articles for Marine Fabricator Magazine. He has also written a book entitled "Bimini Enclosure Fabrication Step by Step" available on this site. In the summer the Hood's can be found sailing their sloop "Dodger" around Marblehead, Cape Cod and the Islands.