The Hood Canvas History

Mark Hood grew up in a sailing family in Marblehead, MA, 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 Debbie who also grew up in Marblehead.

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 home and a business was born. He started by designing and stitching custom bags of all types. In 1987 Mark left his father's business to start Hood Canvas Co., and quickly started fabricating canvas 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.

After several years the business 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. The Hood's have one son, Matthew who is attending college in RI this year. Mark spends many days in Marblehead fabricating canvas and interiors for his brother and boat builder Chris Hood of CW Hood Yachts.

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.

Mark's future plans include writing a book on canvas fabrication, creating an on line canvas store and pursuing canvas consulting and training.