At the Annapolis Boat show, we saw a display at Wells Marine, it looked just like the arch and davits we had in mind. We told them what we wanted. They said, “No problem.” They showed us pictures. We thought they looked good. The next day, they came to our boat and took measurements. Several weeks later we received drawings of the arch they would like to build us. The drawings were nothing like the pictures they showed us, and did not look like they would result in a functioning product. When we asked them about our concerns the reply we received was, tell us what you want, give us measurements and we’ll build it. Not quite the expertise we were planning to pay for. We scratched them off our list.
In a last ditch effort we tried to call stainless manufactures in Fort Lauderdale. No one returned our calls. A canvas shop recommended Alex Castro, with Ocean Tops, and gave us his number. Our attempt to call left us with no new result. Living and traveling on a boat has a way of allowing one to forget about conventional schedules and holidays, our life is scheduled around the weather. Given we tried our calls just after Christmas, we were a bit surprised when first thing after the New Year Alex returned our call. By then we wanted to leave in two weeks time and didn’t think there was anyway to get an arch built in that time frame. Alex surprised us again when he told us he could not only build what we want but he had some time available and could complete it in two weeks. He showed up that afternoon to take some measurements, evaluate the project and give us a quote. We shared our ideas, concerns, and goals; he knew just what needed to be done. The next day, he showed up with his tools and got started.
The bones of the arch were built in one afternoon on our boat. Alex worked with us, involving us in the design, position and function of the arch. We are typically do-it-yourselfers, but on this project; we did not have the knowledge, skills, experience or the time to acquire them. Being so closely involved in the construction assured us that the result would be just what we wanted.
IB did appear a bit concerned when Alex first brought out the grinder and began cutting apart the stainless rails on Passport. The point of no return, after the rails are cut apart there’s no backing out. At the end of the day we cold see what the arch would look like, and no guessing as to how it would fit. Until the day of installation, the remainder of the work would be completed back at Alex’s shop. As he packed up his tools and loaded the arch in his truck, we looked at our boat, where there used to be rails and said, “See you soon.”
We were quite impressed with the quick efficiency in which he completed the project. Within a week he returned with the arch finished and ready to do the installation. For the arch and rails around the cockpit to flow together as one unit, the cockpit rails were completely replaced. The end result is not just a strong functional arch, davits to lift and carry our dingy, or a rope swing, but a work of art.
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