Wednesday, March 25, 2015

IT'S NOT IMPOSIBLE

I have read that one should wait about a year after buying a boat before making changes, modifications, or even upgrades. I waited, and now I am doing what I can as I can, and just a couple of months ago I finally decided it was time to get a new mattress for the V-birth. As I cruised the Face Book posts of the many sailing related groups looking for ideas, contacts of suppliers, and so on. Just the other day I run across a post that a friend is contributing in about boat mattresses; we'll call her Deb, so Deb says she paid about $350ish for hers at a custom mattress store. This is a nice locally owed franchise mattress store, and well I'm all for using locally owed and operated over the giant box type stores.
I go online to see if there is a local to me store and would ya know it there is, its only about 50 miles away, small price to pay to have a professionally, custom made mattress right and besides the drive would be nice. I Email to confirm that this store does in fact make custom boat mattresses, they do so an appointment is made for Monday March the 23rd of 2015 at 11:00 am.
This should have been a nice one hour drive each way, except that mother nature in all her wisdom decided that we should have a spring snow storm. 1 hour drive turns into 2 1/2 hours

I finally make it to the store and even called in this parking lot highway to let the store know that I'd be late.
I unload the old mattress pieces and plywood base so that we can get this thing measured up. Inside the store I begin to lay out the plywood for the base measurement when the stores General Manager; we'll call him Rod S., says he doesn't need the plywood.
Hmm OK this guy must really know his stuff.
SO we lay out just the mattress pieces instead, Rod S looks at it and takes some measurements, comments that it'll be difficult to make some of the detail cuts for things to fit right, I tell him that I'm gonna make this thing a lot easier to make by creating 6 pieces instead of 3.
     Rod S.: comes back with a we cant do that.
     Me: Um why can't that be done.
     Rod S.:Well because it won't look like that.
     Me:Yes it will look like that, there will just be more pieces.
     Rod S. No it will be to difficult to make that puzzle
Oh OK this guy isn't good at all he's a flippin moron.
So this goes on for a while and I'm about to take my money and run, but the employee that will be making my mattress pieces has a clue and seams as though he can make a custom mattress, so I decide to let this store make my mattress.
So what is the name of the store that I am trusting will actually be able to make a custom mattress you ask, well it is
Verlo Mattress, I went to the Naperville, Ill store however this owner has two more stores in Morton Grove, Ill, and Skokie, Ill, I personally would avoid all three since the ownership is the same.
I will find out in 4 to 6 weeks if this was a complete waste of time and money

My Face Book rant same day I returned home
((((((OK so I finally broke down and ordered a new mattress for the v-birth, found the company through a fellow liveaboard but I'm positive that they went to a different store.
So after driving 2 1/2 hours through Chicago during a spring snow storm to this "custom" mattress store, I unload the old mattress and plywood base, and pull out my phone with the pics I took for reference. The owner said he only wants the mattress (it's 40 years old, not a good template) I proceed to explain what I want being 6 pieces instead of 3 (2 long and the small keystone piece) so that I can get to the stowage under without have to remove the entire V-Birth.
Owner: I can't do that
Me: why
Owner: because it won't look like that (2 long and a triangle)
Me: I know but that's how I need it made
Owner: Then I have to cut it with square edges 
Me: What's the difference if you cut two long pieces that are angled to meet the hull or take those same pieces and then cut them where need be to meet what I need.
So this goes back and forth for a while and I'm about to leave and go to Walmart for my foam and make some bs myself, when he says that he has to explain what I want to his employee (standing right next to is taking measurements ) so with that I tell him that I'll just talk to his employee because he is to stupid to understand and or unwilling to give me what I'll be paying for.
I hope the owner leaves his employee to do his work cause this owner needs to replace the words custom with xerox on his web site, since that's what he wanted to do was copy not custom build me a mattress))))))


So what am I looking for, well something like the right picture, please excuse my top notch art work, and yes I did bring pictures of which Rod S. had no desire to see. I even tried telling him that I understand that the world is not perfect, and that as long as he made what I had asked for to the dimensions that I required then I would be happy and all would be good, but he was still insistent on creating a exact duplicate.










So with my vary first custom job (By Someone else) is turning into quit the adventure.

I will update this when I get this job back, If I get it back


Oh and just to be clear, this is a screen shot of Verlo's web site that claims the ability to make this type of mattress and make it the way I need it made,