New season, new look

Home sweet boat...after the dust settled

It’s hard to believe we are into our fifth season with Perseverance. Some of the furnishings had a bit of wear and tear on them when we bought her and we’ve put another four seasons’ worth on her so it’s time to freshen up a bit.

Late last year I started to think about replacing the venerable La-Z-Boy sleeper sofa in the salon. It was a fine, sturdy piece and not too badly worn but frankly it was much more durable than comfortable. Many a crew member found it a cozy if somewhat cramped nap spot while underway but no one EVER volunteered to fold out the hide-a-bed mattress and spend the night with the inevitable hide-a-bar digging into their back.

It was a bit of a challenge to find the replacement that would fit into the precise spot and not clash with the 90’s decor. In addition I determined that it should seat more than 2.3 persons and offer the ability to actually see out the window. Eventually, a winner was found at IKEA. The modular Jättebo sofa ticked all the boxes PLUS it has storage under the seats. Sold!

The four giant boxes (not exactly flat packed) entirely filled the back of our Ford Flex. It has always been my delight, and Jim’s chagrin, that you can fit an entire sofa in that vehicle. The only drawback was the colors on offer, white (washable but, no way), olive (nauseating) and grey (a bit boring, dark?) I opted for the grey slipcover with the hope IKEA offers a more exciting selection next year. After cramming all our luggage in the skybox, we headed  for the UP.

“If you’re going to change the sofa you might as well get new carpet,” Jim said. I dutifully trotted off to the carpet and drapery shop and picked out a nice low pile creamy tan rug to replace the probably formerly beige one in the salon and made a date with Don to come install it on the boat.

Back at the boat, Jim and Davi determined there was no way the hide-a-bed would come out in one piece so the first order of business was to reduce it into pieces that would fit through the 22” pilot house doors. After employing a number of blunt instruments they put all the pieces of  the sofa in the back of the Flex and headed to the dump. Escanaba has excellent public services and the landfill is one of them. You drive in on the scale, pitch your stuff in the proper dumpster and then they weigh your vehicle again on the way out. “Wow,” said the attendant. “You can really fit a lot of stuff in that little car! That’ll be $15, please.” They have a great junkyard cat too.

With the sofa out of the way we could finally remove the carpet. Or could we? It was not tacked down like your carpet at home.  It  was glued down with the Devil’s mastic. Davi, Jim and I took turns tugging and scraping and wire brushing. Ordinary tools were not going to cut it. I ran out to Menard’s and procured the perfect tool, a high quality scraper that attached to a sturdy 2-foot extension handle. It still took hours and the three of us were done in. I asked Jim how much we were saving by doing removal ourselves. I did not get an answer.

Don arrived on the appointed day to install the carpet. He confirmed that, yes, he was going to glue it down as that’s the only way to install carpet in a marine environment. I immediately began reconsidering any plan to replace other boat carpet. 

Naively, I thought carpet installation would be a 2-hour job. It was not, but at least it was finished the same day. I thought we should sit back and enjoy the new carpet and maybe assemble the new IKEA sofa the next day but Jim was anxious to get the job done so we hauled the four giant boxes into the newly carpeted salon and got to work. All we had to do was to pull the slipcovers on and assemble the backs to the seat modules. Piece of cake.

I began tugging the first little skirt onto the inverted seat. It was not going well. I remembered that somewhere the instructions suggested two people work on that task so I called Jim. “Looks like it would be easier if you had it right side up,” he said as he deftly rolled the seat unit over. “I think you’re supposed to assemble the feet first,” I said.  “No problem,” said Jim. “Jeez, this thing weighs a blue ton. I can’t move it!”

The slipcover stays in place thanks to a line of industrial strength velcro hooks on the bottom side of the furniture. Our new sofa was now firmly velcroed on four sides to our freshly installed carpet. Damn.

The atmosphere was a bit tense as we each processed this situation in our own way.

Flinging myself down in an unoccupied expanse of carpet, my eye lit on the pile of carpet removal tools. That scraper with the long handle was once again the perfect tool. I wedged the scraper between the velcro and the new carpet while Jim shoved cardboard underneath. It took a while but we got the sofa separated from the carpet. 

Once we located the instructions it went pretty quickly. It really is the perfect sofa for that spot. It fits so well it almost looks built in and the seat is high enough that I can finally see the horizon while seated. Even the color is not too bad. Hopefully we will make it  to the end of the season before I need to peel the slipcover off and wash it.