Marionette is no longer topless.

Hurricane Irma, the notoriously powerful and destructive category 5 storm that hit Sint Maarten and many other Leeward Islands in 2017, did a great deal of damage to Bobby’s, the boat yard that Marionette has called home for the past 4 years. Fortunately for Marionette (and us), the boat was not damaged, but the canvas cover that was on her roof did not fare so well. Fair enough in 200+ mph winds. Sidebar, we did find out through boat yard gossip that a couple of people sought shelter in Marionette during Irma and this big girl kept them safe 🙂

Has anyone ever priced anything with the word “marine” in front of it? It’s a little like “bridal” or “wedding” – take a logical price and then add 40%. When I got quoted for a 5 inch zipper repair on the canvas for our old boat at $160, I decided to learn how to sew myself.

When hubby and I were in Sint Maarten in August, we measured the giant structure that would hold the canvas topper and provide us necessary shade from the Caribbean sun. This thing is HUGE. Roughly 16 feet long and 11 feet wide. We have already covered that marine anything carries a large price tag, so I wanted to make a template first. That way, when hubby and brother-in-law returned to the island in October/November, they could put the template top on and mark adjustments right on the material and I would have some time to make a more permanent version before we set sail. When I went to Jo-Ann’s for cheap fabric, I found a charming lime green print with little lambs holding parasol’s. I admit, I really did enjoy sending 2 grown men to Sint Maarten with a hand sewn template miles long donning a nursery theme.

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My brother-in-law lent his military engineering skills and made several changes to our initial template. When they returned, that pretty green fabric was all kinds of edited, but we now had a solid design.

Sailrite is known for being an amazingly helpful company and they did not disappoint. I called and explained what I was trying to do and Brian Jansing immediately recommended the fabric, grommets and tools that I would need. Right after our call, he sent me an email with all of the links and I ordered the materials right away. When this enormous wall paper looking roll of fabric and giant wrench thing showed up, I was super intimidated.

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3 months of dragging this enclosure up on deck and into our living room and up to our friends’ place in the mountains and installing grommets on the dock until my hands ached. But today friends, TODAY, we put it up. Much to my amazement…. IT FITS!!! I have a couple of tweaks to make over the coming days, but overall, we are so unbelievably happy with how this turned out.

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