It's hard to believe that it's been several weeks (yes, I know that it's actually been longer, so don't rub it in) since my last post. However, nearly every extra minute has been spent on trying to do the whole life-work balance thing and continue to get Pandora ready for the season of sailing. While some of my friends are wrapping up their season in the South and heading home, us poor soles in more temperate zones are just now getting ready to head out. As I have mentioned in past posts, we are going to keep Pandora in Mystic for part of June after launching the week prior to Memorial Day and then will head to Maine for July and August. For a while I was uncertain if work would allow me to stay away for two months, while working remotely from the boat, but it is now looking like a visit to Maine for both months will only be interrupted by a quick trip to Las Vegas for business in late July. It's actually ironic to imagine leaving Maine to head to a location of such great contrast but, hey, I still have to make a living, for now, I guess.
Well, back to getting Pandora ready. After being fabricated in Canada, Pandora's new radar came down a few weeks ago on a truck. To save on shipping (always looking for a way to save where I can) I arranged to meet the driver at an exit off of the NYS thruway and we made the switch. I constructed special brackets on the roof racks to hold the arch. It just dwarfed the car. I was fearful that I would hit something as I drove home and later to CT where Pandora is stored, but nope, no damage.
With a little help from my friends and a lot of pushing and pulling, the arch was installed. Beyond that I had to run wires for the radar, GPS and aft running light. It proved to be somewhat easier than I had expected and it's all completed now and the radar is in place. No photo of that yet but will come soon. In this photo the radar is still on the back stay but has now been moved to the center of the arch. It's now fully out of the way and securely in it's new home.
I also put the two new holding tanks in place along with a bit of elbow skin as I pushed and pulled them into position. In spite of the very complex looking shot of the forward tank, that one was actually the easiest to fit in place.
While the forward tank was more straight forward, the aft tank was a bear to squeeze into it's new home. Hard to imagine so much work to hold a mess of S... aboard while I look for a place to pump out.
I challenge anyone to have a more solidly constructed holding tank on their boat. However, my ulterior motive in learning to do this sort of work is to make a hard dodger for Pandora based on Bob Perry's plans next winter. Now, that's a project. And the design, that I don't have a photo of unfortunately, really gives a muscular look to the boat. Really impressive. For much of the winter the boat was really torn up with all the work that I was doing was being completed. At some points, I have to confess that I didn't expect to ever be finished. Take a look at this shot and you will probably agree. What a trash heap.
Alas, as they say on the nation's highways when the roads are all torn up, "the inconvenience is temporary, but the repairs are permanent". Well, it's sort of true, as with the roads, boat projects aren't very permanent either. But, it does look a lot better now. Check out the new Ultrasuede cushions. No, I didn't sew them. There's a limit to what I am willing, or should I say able to take on. They look really great. In 30 years of boating, no make that 40, we have never had new cushions that I didn't make. That's to say, really nice ones.
With Pandora nearly ready to launch I have just a few more weeks to finish up these projects and get ready to head out for a week aboard. We have never splashed her and immediately headed out for a week so we will have to see how that goes.
Finally, now that we are nearly into the commissioned season, I expect to begin getting into a more or less weekly blog post.
Before I sign off, how about a sunset shot? No, perhaps I should call it a sunrise shot. In fact, I took this years ago when we visited St. John in the BVI. It's my hope that in a few short years I will see this same view, if a bit closer to the water, from aboard Pandora. Now, that's something to look forward to.
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