It’s Monday morning and there remains a LOT to be done to get Pandora ready for next winter’s cruising. In the next few days I hope to be done with the solar panel installation. It’s a whopper of a panel measuring nearly 80″ x 40″ with a footprint of over 20 sq feet. That’s a lot of solar and will total, along with the four panels that are already installed, to 600 watts and plenty to manage Pandora’s electrical load including making all of our domestic water production with the RO unit. 
I have already run most of the wiring but came up short of the total length that I needed to connect everything. So, today I’ll add an additional length of cable and everything should be about ready to put the panel on the top of the davits. Hopefully, that will be done today so tomorrow I can begin securing the panel to the davit frame.
I am hopeful that my projects will be done by the end of the week as I am planning a week long trip with some friends up to Martha’s Vineyard and perhaps Boston. Brenda’s got plenty of weaving to do and some friends visiting so I expect that she will be able to keep herself occupied without me in the way.
It will be fun to spend time on the water aboard Pandora and that will help me become more familiar with the systems on what is a complicated boat. Speaking of complicated, on a boat like Pandora, there is nearly always something that is not working properly and now is no exception. The other day the bow thruster decided that it would only work powering to starboard and not port. There are only two options, I think, that would cause this problem. The simple fix would be a loose wire in the control “joy stick”. I hope that’s the problem as the other option would be a solenoid, a somewhat more complicated fix. Fingers crossed that it’s simple.
On another topic, we had a bit of a mishap last week, when a particularly nasty thunderstorm came through the area and knocked down trees and power lines. Pandora was on a mooring and when the wind and current were at their worst and the mooring ball banged against the boat, leaving some really nasty scratches right through the paint. When I saw the scratches I was crushed and while I knew that scratches were inevitable, it hurt never the less. I was able to get someone from a local paint shop to come out and cover them with matching paint and a small artist brush. No, it’s not a proper repair but will hold me until she is hauled in early fall prior to heading south.
The scratches were on both sides but worse on starboard. Sickening. 
Here’s the repair guy hard at work.
The temporary repair looks pretty good, well at least using the “ten foot rule”. Such is the life of a fussy boat owner.
And, speaking of fussy owners. Brenda and I took a day at Mystic Seaport to visit the Wooden Boat Show and enjoyed a remarkable display of wooden boats kept to the very highest standards. I doubt that there is much that comes from the hand of man that can top a beautiful wooden boat.
This boat, Blue Peter, from the UK was designed by a Scott, and built in 1930. She spends a lot of time in the Med and can be yours for a day sail if you have the dough. Check out her site. A great looking boat. 
And, if Blue Peter doesn’t have enough room for you and your friends for a day on the water, perhaps a classic Trumpy would be more your style. Freedom would e a fine choice.
Imagine taking an evening stroll down her side decks, G&T in hand.
If you wear yourself out. There’s always a comfy sofa. 
And, if all else fails. Nap time. 
Last winter she powered by as we made our way down the Hawk Channel in the Florida Keys. 
She is the definition of elegance. This is a lovely video of her. Don’t want to do boat projects yourself? Hate varnishing? Freedom is in a fractional ownership program where you can choose to spend your time aboard one of several yachts in the program. So many choices in life. Sound interesting? The details of your share are only a click away.
Can’t afford a share in the program, you can always buy this lovely sailing yacht and sit on the fantail and gaze at Freedom from afar. Love the deck chairs. 
I am always a sucker for finely machined cannons and fittings. 
Fortunately, I don’t own a wooden boat. Owning one that is made of “inert” materials is expensive enough. These lovely bronze fittings would make lovely desk ornaments never the less. 
Of course, if a 100′ yacht is beyond your price range, you can always go for a model pond yacht. This lovely model is complete down to the smallest detail including brass fastenings. That’s of course, if you can overlook the fact that it’s has an electric motor. Correctly guess the number of screws and you win a… well, I don’t know what you win, actually. 
Seeing this beautiful beetle cat brought back memories of Brenda’s and my early sailing years. Our first two boats were cats. These are still made new and have a healthy following by owners in the Cape Cod area. They are sweet boats. Check out their site. Before the company moved into Cat Boat production, they supplied whale boats to the New Bedford whaling fleet. They have been in business for a long time.
This converted sardine carrier Grayling is always a head turner. She was rebuilt in Maine a number of years ago. Her lines are really sweet. 
Well, I could go on and on… Mystic Seaport is a great place to visit and there are always beautiful vistas to gaze upon. And, of course, there is the iconic Brilliant, at her home on the dock at the seaport. She is part of the permanent collection. No, she’s not the gig in the foreground, but that’s lovely too.
Well, that’s enough wooden boats for now and this isn’t getting the solar panel installed so I had better wrap things up and get to work.
Almost forgot… Beyond my run with some buddies for a week coming up, Pandora’s going to make the run to the BVI this winter and I have signed up for the Salty Dawg Rally that leaves for the Bitter End Yacht Club in Tortola on November 2nd.
So that’s where Pandora’s going. To learn more, y0u’ll have to check back as that’s a topic for yet another post.
Until then…
2 responses to “Where’s Pandora going? And, a stop at Mystic for the wooden boat show.”