In the Eye of the Beholder
28 June 2013 | Clarkes Court Bay, Grenada
Lynn
Ken is a "tinker finger", as in he has that knack for electrical, mechanical, plumbing and pretty much all boat systems. At the very least he can trouble shoot the problem, and generally, there aren't too many things on our boat we can't fix. I am a pretty good lateral thinker, which can come in handy on the boat, although the statement "I've been thinking" tends to fill Ken with trepidation. I am also quite willing to glue, epoxy, paint, caulk, run cables, hoses, wires, lines or do any other job required. However, neither one of us is good at the "fine points".
The fine points are being able to make a job look nice. Sure, retrofitting the garbage and creating a hinged door for it is do-able, but it isn't going to look "pretty" when we are done. Functional, absolutely, but pretty, not likely. Our boat isn't going to sink, our systems are all working very well, but poor "Silverheels III" will never grace the cover of the nautical equivalent to "Martha Stewart" magazine (is that even still in existence?).
Neither one of us is an accomplished sewer. If one of us pops a button, which is less likely since most of our stuff seems to be drawstrings now, I can take care of that. Beyond that, sure, I can slap something together, but again, functionality will be all that you get. Thank goodness I have never had to worry about hemming pants for either one of us. On one hand, I envy those cruisers with sewing machines that can whip up winch covers, or dodgers, or cushions, but deep down I also know that I can find something else to do with that time. My mother would bemoan the fact that I never had an interest in knitting, yet she could knit the most gorgeous sweaters.
We have some UV resistant shade material that was given to us when we were last in Canada. For 18 months we have been saying that we needed to make cockpit shades and hatch covers with that material. Finally, we got our poop-in-a-group and got on it. This material is in desperate need of hemming, and it had to be strong enough so the grommets weren't going to rip out when the wind got over 10 knots. That was not something I was going to do by hand, so I visited Compton the Tailor. He is the gentleman I saw last summer to get my shorts taken in, and to get some of Ken's shirts mended. His prices are very reasonable, and he is very good at what he does. He is also very sweet. We discussed the job, and he did it in a day and a half, including purchasing the seam tape we asked him to use. And his price was very fair. All we have to do is put the grommets in (a simple job that does not require needle and thread) and we will have our shades. Once we figure out our hatch cover designs, he will get that commission, too. And it should all look pretty good, too.
So, we have become comfortable with the fact that our boat will never be the snazziest looking, but we also know that she is in very good shape where it counts. After all, real beauty lies beneath the surface. And all of the wax and polish in the world won't fix maintain the diesel for you. Plus one more rationalization - all work and no play is just no fun!