It's been a long winter

I have not been keeping up with my blog for many months but it's been a busy winter working on Pandora. I put an automatic Espar cabin heater on the boat, upgraded the jib travler, modfied the companionway steps and completely removed and re-varnished the cabin sole. I did lots of other things that are too small to mention but here are the larger items.

Here's the cabin sole all laid out in the cockpit prior to the final installation. Yes, that's 26 individual pieces. I used an interesting product called "Ultimate Sole" to finish it and it's supposed to be non-skid even though it's shiny. So far, so good.

Hee is the finished sole in place! I like it.

Here's the new traveler. The old one came out to the side of the cabin and didn't provide a good sheeting angle so the new one goes out an additional 16" or so on each side. The better angle with the wider set makes for better performance. I had to get new brackets made to provide support for the extra overhang but they fit perfectly. I got this idea from my friend Keith and confirmed it with the boat's designer, Bob Perry. It does make a big difference. The boat's faster and heels less.
This is a closeup of the new brackets. Really nice work by Klako Marine in Canada.

I also added wedges in the companionway steps so that it would be easier to enter the cabin when the boat is heeled. This gives us a "level" surface to stand on when the boat is on an angle. Very nice to have and gives much better footing.