diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 08fcbeef5..658d0a29c 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -1,7 +1,4 @@
-# Prevent Travis from exporting CXX after matrix env
-language: c
-
-sudo: false
+language: generic
 
 matrix:
   include:
@@ -13,15 +10,19 @@ matrix:
   - os: linux
     compiler: clang
     env: CXX=clang++-3.5 NODE_VERSION=5
+    sudo: false
   - os: linux
     compiler: clang
     env: CXX=clang++-3.5 NODE_VERSION=4
+    sudo: false
   - os: linux
     compiler: clang
     env: CXX=clang++-3.5 NODE_VERSION=0.12
+    sudo: false
   - os: linux
     compiler: clang
     env: CXX=clang++-3.5 NODE_VERSION=0.10
+    sudo: false
 # OS X
   - os: osx
     osx_image: xcode7
@@ -52,17 +53,16 @@ env:
 
 before_install:
 - export COVERAGE=${COVERAGE:-false}
+- export PYTHONUSERBASE=$(pwd)/.local
+- mkdir -p ${PYTHONUSERBASE}
 - if [[ ${COVERAGE} == true ]]; then
-    brew update;
-    brew install pyenv;
-    eval "$(pyenv init -)";
-    pyenv install 2.7.6;
-    pyenv global 2.7.6;
-    pyenv rehash;
-    pip install cpp-coveralls;
-    pyenv rehash;
+     if [[ $(uname -s) == 'Linux' ]]; then
+        pip install --user cpp-coveralls;
+     else
+        easy_install --user cpp-coveralls;
+     fi;
   fi;
-- ./scripts/install_node.sh
+- source ./scripts/install_node.sh ${NODE_VERSION}
 
 install:
 - ./scripts/install.sh
diff --git a/scripts/install.sh b/scripts/install.sh
index 67999b9d8..021d9018f 100755
--- a/scripts/install.sh
+++ b/scripts/install.sh
@@ -5,9 +5,6 @@ set -o pipefail
 
 source ./scripts/install_mason.sh
 
-source ~/.nvm/nvm.sh
-nvm use ${NODE_VERSION}
-
 if [[ ${COVERAGE} == true ]]; then
   npm install --build-from-source --debug --clang;
 else
diff --git a/scripts/install_node.sh b/scripts/install_node.sh
index 6ed19a800..679b1fc46 100755
--- a/scripts/install_node.sh
+++ b/scripts/install_node.sh
@@ -3,14 +3,24 @@
 set -e
 set -o pipefail
 
-if [ ! -d ~/.nvm ]; then
-    curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/creationix/nvm/v0.28.0/install.sh | bash
+if [[ ${1:-false} == 'false' ]]; then
+    echo "Error: pass node version as first argument"
+    exit 1
 fi
 
-source ~/.nvm/nvm.sh
+NODE_VERSION=$1
 
-nvm install ${NODE_VERSION}
-nvm alias default ${NODE_VERSION}
+# if an existing nvm is already installed we need to unload it
+nvm unload || true
 
+# here we set up the node version on the fly based on the matrix value.
+# This is done manually so that the build works the same on OS X
+rm -rf ./__nvm/ && git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/creationix/nvm.git ./__nvm
+set +e
+set +u
+source ./__nvm/nvm.sh
+nvm install ${NODE_VERSION}
+nvm use ${NODE_VERSION}
 node --version
 npm --version
+which node
diff --git a/scripts/test.sh b/scripts/test.sh
index f82017218..149894d3b 100755
--- a/scripts/test.sh
+++ b/scripts/test.sh
@@ -3,11 +3,8 @@
 set -e
 set -o pipefail
 
-source ~/.nvm/nvm.sh
-nvm use ${NODE_VERSION}
-
 npm test
 
 if [[ ${COVERAGE} == true ]]; then
-    cpp-coveralls --exclude node_modules --exclude tests --build-root build --gcov-options '\-lp' --exclude doc --exclude build/Debug/obj/gen
+    ${PYTHONUSERBASE}/bin/cpp-coveralls --exclude node_modules --exclude mason_packages --exclude tests --build-root build --gcov-options '\-lp' --exclude doc --exclude build/Debug/obj/gen
 fi
diff --git a/scripts/travis_publish.sh b/scripts/travis_publish.sh
index 8d618b1c8..5c70a704b 100755
--- a/scripts/travis_publish.sh
+++ b/scripts/travis_publish.sh
@@ -14,8 +14,6 @@ COMMIT_MESSAGE=$(git show -s --format=%B $TRAVIS_COMMIT | tr -d '\n')
 PACKAGE_JSON_VERSION=$(node -e "console.log(require('./package.json').version)")
 
 if [[ ${TRAVIS_TAG} == v${PACKAGE_JSON_VERSION} ]] || test "${COMMIT_MESSAGE#*'[publish binary]'}" != "$COMMIT_MESSAGE" && [[ ${COVERAGE} == false ]]; then
-    source ~/.nvm/nvm.sh
-    nvm use $NODE_VERSION
 
     npm install aws-sdk