02/16/2026
The last presidential yacht. Built 1931. 93 feet of wood, brass, and American history.
The Honey Fitz carried five U.S. Presidents: Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon. Eisenhower used her as a floating locker room, cruising up the Potomac to play golf and shooting s***t off the bow on the way back. Kennedy made her a family retreat. He’d sit in his blue chair on the aft deck, reading the paper with a cigar, while Jackie and the kids spread out through the salon she personally redesigned.
That redesign matters to this story.
Jackie Kennedy sketched the sofa designs herself and handed them to a carpenter. Her notes specified blue fabric with white piping throughout. That wasn’t a decorator’s choice. It was hers.
When Canvas Designers Inc. was brought in to restore the soft goods and enclosures, that detail became the north star. Perennials Rough and Rowdy Denim with Blanca Welt. The same blue and white piping Jackie specified, now in materials engineered to last another century on the water.
The scope went well beyond upholstery. A 15-panel aft deck enclosure system in Serge Ferrari Stamoid Top with O’Sullivan Regalite clear vinyl windows, mapped in 3D before a single panel was cut. Nothing is square on a 93-year-old wooden hull. A new Master Stateroom headliner in Nautolex Voyager Vinyl. Custom snap-on slipcovers for the original JFK Blue Chair so the vessel stays in active use while the artifact underneath stays protected.
The Honey Fitz isn’t a museum piece. She’s still on the water in Jupiter, Florida, restored over four years by owner Charles Modica. And Canvas Designers’ work honors both the history and the next nine decades ahead.
Design: Corey Degroff CAD: Paul Mabie , Ryan Faber Fabrication: Jintana Vidal, Installation: Robby Erickson Canvas Designers Inc. | Palm Beach
Happy Presidents’ Day.
—
