Great Lakes Boat Top - September 2021 Update

[KevinC]

I know many of you have been looking for canvas products from Great Lakes Boat Top (GLBT) who stopped taking orders back in April 2021 due to being overwhelmed by manufacturer orders.

While they have not been officially started taking new orders they are providing us with updated pricing (all old quotes will need to be updated). They will also allow us to send orders to them for queuing. At this time the orders will not be accepted or slotted for production. This will allow them to eventually start feeding orders into the production line based on product availability and staffing.

While no one likes price increases (GLBT's last increase was 2 years ago) our CSR members discount will certainly help to offset this. Please feel free to contact me if you would like a previous quote updated. If you have not previously completed our online request please feel free to do so at https://www.covemarine.com and we will contact you. We also like to discuss all orders personally to make sure you are ordering correctly.

If you have previously submitted a request and just want a re-quote please email me and I will respond with the updated quote. If you lost our original email please feel fee to PM me here or call me at 516-261-1000.

If you have any general questions you can post them here and I will try to respond so that others may be helped too. Of course - if it is a specific question or issue related to your own situation, please feel free to contact me personally.

Thanks again!
-Kevin

 

[Blueone]

I have heard sunbrella is hard to come by and prices have gone up a lot….. do you have any insight to that?

 

[HawkX66]

Thanks KevinC. Already responded to your email.

 

[KevinC]

I have heard sunbrella is hard to come by and prices have gone up a lot….. do you have any insight to that?

For Sunbrella it depends on the color and the size (width). The problem we run into is that our local distributors could have it today and run out tomorrow and not have a fulfillment date for reorders. So, in some cases we have taken in 80" wide material where we would normally order 60" wide material just to do a small job. As an example Sailrite is showing 60" Sunbrella Captain Navy with no availability and more expected on 10/28. Trivantage (also part of Glen Raven that owns Sunbrella) shows the same product as limited availability.

So, getting something fabricated in Captain Navy right now is tough unless you have stock on hand. Now, for a company like GLBT stock is a completely different story as they will probably run through more fabric than some of our distributors.

As far as prices go there has been a slow creep in material costs and soon shipping costs with the surcharges going into affect. I think staffing costs are going to introduce the higher costs due to the need to attract workers.

-Kevin

 

[RittSea]

I've been talking with Ashley @ GLBTs for a couple of aft canvas curtains since way back in May. I was originally told no new orders until Sept. Then 2-3 weeks ago I got another email saying that GLBT is now fulfilling orders for OEM manufacturers only. Private, Retail and Dealer orders have to wait even longer i.e. late Fall. I was forced to look elsewhere for my canvases. Supply chain issues due to the pandemic.

Here's the note sent 9/9/21:
At this time our production facility is at maximum capacity working 6 days a week , 10 hour day and we have decided at this point we must suspend Retail and Dealer orders for sewn canvas products in order to support our OEM customers and our production employees. We are going to reevaluate this decision in Fall 2021 and will let you know. Please follow us on Facebook for real time updates https://www.facebook.com/greatlakesboattop

 

[KevinC]

I've been talking with Ashley @ GLBTs for a couple of aft canvas curtains since way back in May. I was originally told no new orders until Sept. Then 2-3 weeks ago I got another email saying that GLBT is now fulfilling orders for OEM manufacturers only. Private, Retail and Dealer orders have to wait even longer i.e. late Fall. I was forced to look elsewhere for my canvases. Supply chain issues due to the pandemic.

Here's the note sent 9/9/21:
At this time our production facility is at maximum capacity working 6 days a week , 10 hour day and we have decided at this point we must suspend Retail and Dealer orders for sewn canvas products in order to support our OEM customers and our production employees. We are going to reevaluate this decision in Fall 2021 and will let you know. Please follow us on Facebook for real time updates https://www.facebook.com/greatlakesboattop

Yes, that aligns with what I originally posted and I am not trying to get anyone's hope up for immediate fulfillment. However, GLBT is now providing us with the updated pricing so that we can quote and they will allow us to submit orders for the queue.

I would suggest that if this is something of interest to anyone that you get an updated quote and be ready (or in the queue) for when they do start accepting and processing these orders again. Also keep in mind our CSR discounts will help to offset some of the new price increases you will see at retail.

-Kevin