When It’s All About Appearance
More often than not, especially over the past several years, the interiors produced for the Skater Powerboats catamarans coming from the Douglas Marine factory in Douglas, Mich., have been designed and created by the talented team at Appearance Products in Grand Rapids, Mich. In fact, the company, which handled the interiors of both Skater catamarans that were on display at the Miami International Boat Show in February, has been a go-to Skater interior company for almost 20 years.
Craig Ellis of Appearance Products in Michigan has done more Skater interiors over the past two decades than he can remember. Photo courtesy Paul Rose/SeriousOffshore.com
And, after all this time and many mentions of the company in stories throughout the years, I finally connected with the main man behind Appearance Products, Craig Ellis, for an enlightening conversation regarding customer service, hard work, quality control and enjoying boats, both fast and slow. It was hard to believe I hadn’t interviewed Ellis before, but then I did a Google search to find more information about him and there wasn’t much on him so I didn’t feel as bad.
And if you ask him, that’s pretty much how he likes it. Appearance Products does have a website, but it’s mainly a product showcase and contact page, not much else. None of what his company does—including the sign and awning part of the business—is for the attention. Ellis and his team don’t just handle new boat interiors, they gladly tackle boat restoration projects not to mention interiors for automobiles, RVs, motorcycles, trucks, helicopters and other aircraft.
and then