Yet another boating feature is coming to 40 Doaks Lane on Little Harbor Beach. Krisha Plauche, owner and operator of Onboard Interiors, has recently acquired the locally-known sailmaking and boatbuilding business Hood Canvas.
The Marblehead native has combined both companies’ specialties to create a one-stop boating shop. The daughter of a trained engineer, Plauche grew up helping her father refurbish various types of vessels. She also spent time captaining and building boats, and earned a certification from the Westlawn Institute of Marine Technology. After that, she was fully equipped to start her own business.
Plauche has operated Onboard Interiors for two decades in Marblehead, and collaborated with Hood Canvas in Merrimac many times over that duration. However, the two separate entities combined when owners Mark and Deb Hood sold their business to Plauche. With this transaction, boat manufacturing will return to where Mark’s uncle Ted founded Hood Sails more than 70 years ago. Onboard Interiors removed a wall and expanded an additional 1,000 square-feet to make room for the manufacturing department.
Plauche explained why the combination of these two businesses made sense to her.
“This is a good step combining offerings for the local boater,” Plauche said in a press release. “Our interior work is about making you comfortable in the boat. The exterior spaces are, in general, more function-based but help you create comfortable spaces away from sun and weather. We strive to combine form and function and curate our custom designs for each customer.”
Another factor that excites Plauche about this business union is how the individual reputations of the companies will only serve to strengthen the services now that they are together.
“Mark Hood has won awards for his exterior design and we’ve won awards for our interior design,” Plauche said. “So it’s nice to be able to combine that kind of craftsmanship.”
Plauche said she is excited to bring manufacturing back to Little Harbor, where she will continue to build on both the Hood legacy and her own.