When we bought Escape Velocity we were happy that most of the canvas work was in excellent shape because this stuff doesn’t come cheap. The more we lived aboard though, the more we felt that all the yellow just didn’t express who we are. As artist-types we are super sensitive to color and there are some colors in this boat we can’t do anything about, like the 50s turquoise laminate countertops everywhere. The yellow never looked good with it and we grew to hate it. We replaced the cockpit cushions so at least we didn’t have to sit on yellow. We are very happy with our choice there because its more neutral and because it doesn’t show dirt like the solid yellow did.
But we are not neutral people and we needed punch. So orange became the basis for our redecorating project. I made the boom cover a while back but in sewing that and the jib cover it became clear that my ex-husband’s grandmother’s 40s Singer sewing machine was not up to the task. Nor did I have the confidence to sew replacement saloon window covers, which went to the top of the list after being torn asunder on our long windward passage to St. Thomas.
Enter Janice of Virgin Islands Canvas. We talked her into putting us at the head of the queue and doing up the window covers and sun awnings and finishing up the jib cover in short order. Short order island time, of course. She was not happy to learn that we aren’t at a dock and she’d have to brave the dinghy ride to come fit the window covers. Twice. She managed, though, and by Saturday it all came together.
Does that not look awesome!? We still have a lot of touches to add, we’re stuck with the yellow line bags for now and we have an additional surprise accent color up our sleeve for down the road apiece, but we delight every time we return to EV in the dinghy. “Look!” we say, “We’re not the yellow boat any more!” We could probably have spent the money more wisely on equipment or supplies, but the redecorating gave us a big lift and makes us feel that EV really is our home.
After a few days we decided the awnings need a few more grommets to be able to use them effectively as our rain catchment system. Unfortunately Janice’s grommet setter is bench mounted so we had to take the awnings back to her shop Monday morning. That delayed our departure by six or seven hours and that meant we couldn’t achieve a daylight arrival at our next destination, but that’s another story.
By the way, Janice was delighted to hear about my family research. “You have Caribbean blood!” she said, and she gave me a big hug.