Century Club: Christopher Perez

I have a few upholstery seams that are splitting in various parts of the interior. Partly the natural state of affairs for a 9 yr old boat, and partially (reportedly) because the manufacturer used the wrong thread during the build. Regardless, it was bothering me. After considering a few very expensive options I decided to give it a shot at repairing the seams myself. I restitched a few small areas and they turned out well. However I chose to take the cushion with the biggest split to Marty's Bag Works in Edgewater. Marty's is a terrific family business and they made a custom bow and cockpit cover for my boat about 4 yrs ago.

Marty's GM is Bryan Nagel and you won't meet a nicer gentleman. As we chatted, he told me that they had lost their hand sewing specialist after she moved out of the state so while he could take care of it, he could not give me a firm timeline. When Bryan learned that I had gotten comfortable with smaller repairs, he encouraged me to try to do this on my own. He even gave me several yards of the Tenara PTFE thread that would help me complete the project. Armed with this thread and his encouragement I managed to complete the repair and it turned out better than expected.A very satisfying outcome for a problem that had been bothering me since the beginning of the season. I still have a few very small seams to restitch and the interior will be good to go for several more seasons.

A cloudy start to the day led to a spectacular afternoon. We packed a homemade picnic lunch and set off at 12:30 for Clements Creek off the Severn River. We found a quiet corner just off the large mooring field and set anchor. Settled in for about 3 hours of dining, sipping, and listening to a Mem'l Day playlist and the Detroit Tigers baseball game. There may have been a brief nap in there, too. We're in for a few days of rain this week so I removed a bow cushion to bring in for some minor seam reinforcement this week. A cloudy start to the day led to a spectacular afternoon. We packed a homemade picnic lunch and set off at 12:30 for Clements Creek off the Severn River. We found a quiet corner just off the large mooring field and set anchor. Settled in for about 3 hours of dining, sipping, and listening to a Mem'l Day playlist and the Detroit Tigers baseball game. There may have been a brief nap in there, too. We're in for a few days of rain this week so I removed a bow cushion to bring in for some minor seam reinforcement this week.

We set out at 11am to anchor in our favorite viewing spot just southwest of the Horn Point marker. We were accompanied by Capt's Pitten and Ross in their center consoles. We knew it would be busy because the forecast was poor for the actual demonstration flight the next day. The wind shifted dramatically during our 4+ hour stay so we had 360 deg viewing opportunities. Plenty to eat and drink for the crew and perfect conditions with light breeze and temps in low 70's. We returned to the Cove for an extended dock party and then capped off the day at Davis' Pub.