For many years (until c.1997) the only supplier of canvas to Boston Whaler for sale as OEM accessories was by the Wm. J. Mills & Co., of Greenport, New York, on Long Island. On that basis, the Boston Whaler MONTAUK 17 boat you saw probably was set up with Mills weather canvas, including a FORWARD SHELTER. Mills uses the Sunbrella fabric, which I believe is still the Gold-standard for boat canvas. You can still purchase weather canvas for classic Boston Whaler boats from Wm. J. Mills & Co. You can find them on-line at
http://millscanvas.com/whaler-canvas/To get more background on the Wm. J. Mills & Co. history of making weather canvas for Boston Whaler boats, you may enjoy listening to an interview I recorded with Jamie Mills, a fifth-generation canvas artisan for the company. To hear the recording visit
http://continuouswave.com/whaler/radio/and follow the links there to the Mills interview. Listen to all three parts; it is a very good interview and has a lot of great anecdotes about the old days of Boston Whaler and Dick Fisher.
The rigging of a FORWARD SHELTER on classic Boston Whaler open-cockpit boats was rather common. You can see examples in these images:
A Boston Whaler OUTRAGE 18 rigged with Wm. J. Mills & Co. weather canvas, including Forward Shelter, Flying Top, Windshield, Side Curtains, underway in some cooler weather on Lake Huron's North Channel. Photo credit: Jim Hebert.
A Boston Whaler OUTRAGE V-20 rigged with Wm. J. Mills & Co. weather canvas, including Forward Shelter, Flying Top, Windshield, Side Curtains, and Drop Curtain. This color is called PACIFIC BLUE and is the original, probably most used (and perhaps most traditional) color. Photo credit: David Hart.