We decided to reupholster the boat. We talked with Simone, who did our dinghy cover, and he was happy to do the work. We requested leather, and again he said that it would not be a problem. However, he did say that it would take about a week to get samples.
For 3 weeks we tried to contact him. We finally contacted him again, and he said he would be by that evening. Evening rolled around, and no Simone. Finally about 8:00 PM he finally showed up, only to tell us that he had the samples at the shop (less than a mile from the anchorage) but he could not bring them for another 3 days! We asked if it was possible to bring the samples in the morning and we would meet him at what ever time he wanted. He said that it would not be possible. At that point, we told him thanks but no thanks! In not so polite words.
We talked with a few friends and discovered a local Tapisario that does excellent work. We stopped by on a Friday morning to find out when they could come out to take measurements and give us an estimate. They apologized for not being able to come out immediately, but said that they would be available any time after 2:00 PM. We stopped by on our way back to the boat and they came out. They took measurements, and said that the would have samples by 11:00 am Saturday.
We went Saturday morning, and sure enough they had samples of every style of burgundy cloth available on the island. We selected the color we wanted, and asked when they could start. They told us that if we brought our cushions on Monday, they could start then.
Wow. This was incredible. So, we brought our first set of cushions in and they were done in 2 days! The entire main saloon and pilot house was completely reupholstered in 5 days!
This really made the boat look so much better, since after three years of us using this material full time, it was starting to show it's age. The fact that the work, was less then a 1/5 of what it would cost in the US helped alot.
Voyages