Monthly Archives: August 2024

Way back in early May I left Pandora in Trinidad to begin a major refit. If you have been following this project, recall that I left Pandora at Powerboats Marine in Chaguaramus to have a number of big jobs done that I have been putting off for a while. I hired a group, Perfect Finish, headed by Amos who was recommended by a number of friends that have been keeping their boats there for years.

It is a very nice facility, one of a small number of yards for cruisers in Trinidad.

The process of engaging with Amos about this job began about a year ago when I discovered, much to my distress, that a good amount of the side decks had become wet. Ugg…

I did several video calls with him over WhatsApp and went into detail of what needed to be fixed and as honest a sense of the scope of work that I could muster. We agreed on a price…

Anyway, off to Trinidad at the end of last season where she has been for months now. There has been a small army of guys working on Pandora and I have been getting weekly video tours of the job from Amos which has given me a great deal of confidence in the quality of the work.

In addition to the live video tours, Amos has sent me dozens of photos each week and regular video clips as things progress.

I will not review all of the steps but there have been many and if you are interested, you can scroll back a few posts to see all the gory details.

Today is a big day as Amos sent me a 3 minute video this morning at 07:00, they get to work early, to show what the boat looks like as they prepare for spraying all of the non-skid finish coat. In addition to replacing the wet deck areas, they sanded the entire boat, rail to rail down to fiberglass, to prepare to repaint everything and finally put down a medium grit non-skid. Of course, a gloss finish on deck would be terrible, especially when the decks are wet.

Note the hundreds of feet of masking to keep the areas that have been already been sprayed to a high gloss, from getting the new dull and somewhat rough finish. The masked areas, along with cabin sides and other selected areas, will retain the high gloss finish as they do not need to be non-skid. This contrast between glossy and matt will provide for a very professional look that goes way beyond what Pandora sported when new. Basically, all of the grey areas will become non-skid.

Sure, a lot of tape throughout but as you get near the bow the attention to detail is particularly impressive.

And in the cockpit under the hard dodger. Note how shiny the underside of the dodger and cabin sides are. Brenda thought that they were wet…

And, speaking of shiny, they are even painting the Hoyt boom. For the moment, it is pushed off to the left and all the hardware has been removed.

An issue with a Hoyt boom is that they are hard to control on a deep reach so I am having a local welder fabricate a break system that I have designed. Here are the drawings. There is no way that I could hire someone to do this sort of complex job here in the US at a reasonable price.

No, I am no draftsman but the welder, Mitchel, seems to feel that he can fabricate one. He declared the job “easy”. We’ll see about that. He hasn’t begun to work on it yet, beyond taking some measurements when I was in Trinidad in May, as we wanted to get the painting and deck work completed before he started that project.

Oh yeah, one more thing. You might have noticed a few photos above in this post, that the floor of the cockpit is a bit torn up. Sadly, there are wet spots in that area too. I won’t go into how that happened but it is sufficient to say that the problem is a result of two small fittings in the cockpit sole that were not properly sealed. Of course, that is being fixed too. Details to come. Sadly, there is no end to it but that is the first part of the job that has fallen outside of the agreed scope of work.

All and all, the project is going well and I am getting very excited about heading back to Pandora to get her ready to run north to Antigua to meet up with the Salty Dawg rally to the Caribbean in early November. To that point, registration is going really well and we will likely see upwards of 100 boats heading south this fall. Exciting stuff.

With regards to Trinidad as a place to store a boat, off season, and also considerations on getting work done and of course, the likelihood of a direct hurricane hit, I have scheduled a Salty Dawg Webinar on this subject for August 28th. You can sign up by following this link and scroll down to the last webinar listed and register. It’s free for all and you don’t have to be a Salty Dawg member to participate.

As the webinar will be recorded, I will come back and modify this post later to include a link to the recording.

As I sit here in CT, it has been just about a year since I had my first video call with Amos to review the scope of work that would be needed to get Pandora in near perfect condition. It has been 17 years since she was loaded on a ship from Helsinki so I guess it is high time that she gets the full treatment.

When I first “met” with Amos, via video link, I had mapped out all of the areas that were damp in the decks in blue tape and discussed, in detail, what I hoped he would accomplish. The list was long and beyond the details of the cockpit issue mentioned above, there have been no major surprises.

Had someone told me that I could have work done so far from home and to be able to follow it in such exquisite detail as things progressed, I would not have believed it.

Actually, I didn’t believe it in spite of years of prodding but here we are a year later and it’s nearly done.

Who knew? Not me…

It has now been several months that Pandora has been “under the knife” in Trinidad and while the images suggest that the finish line is a way off, as they say, “It’s 95% preparation” or perhaps in the summer heat of Trinidad, “perspiration”. One way or the other, a remarkable amount of work has gone into getting her to the stage that she is at now.

As I write this they are getting ready to do the final spray coats of gloss paint to the entire deck, cockpit and hard dodger and based on the recent “video tour” by Amos, of Perfect Finish, who is responsible for the job, I expect that the final product is going to be pretty amazing. After the full spray is done, certain areas will receive a non-skid treatment to ensure that time on deck is safe. His plan to paint gloss first and then mask off certain areas of the boat to keep them shiny before adding non-skid with make for an amazing job.

As of a few days ago, this is what the decks looked like, silky smooth, with a number of primer coats.

Amos has been very communicative, providing weekly photo and video tours of the job. It is very helpful to get live video tours of what’s going on via WhatsApp. These detailed discussions give me confidence that things are progressing. And, so far, the job is pretty much on time.

One of the things that I have been told about getting work done in Trinidad is that you have to stay involved so they know you are thinking of them. I have to say that Amos, has kept me informed every step of the way and there have been a LOT OF STEPS.

This is the crew, well most of them. Amos, the boss, is on the left.

I have written a number of posts about what has been involved and things are now really getting serious with every inch of Pandora’s decks, cabin top, hard dodger and cockpit sanded down and primed. After each coat of primer they comb over the deck, fixing minor imperfections and prime again.

This shot of the cockpit show just how many nooks and crannies there are that needed attention. There were a number of small cracks that had been there as long I have owned Pandora. Not any more.

They filled and smoothed all of the buggers that have accumulated since her launching in 2007

You’d never know what it had looked like “pre Amos”.

My mother used to say that “it is darkest before the dawn” and I’d hate to think about being responsible for a job of this complexity. It’s overwhelming to see the condition of everything as the job progressed and all of the work that has gone into getting her to this point.

Just about all of the deck hardware has been removed and the paint carefully sanded off in preparation for refinishing. Note that the tempered glass windows for the dodger have been removed.

Now it looks so much better.

From the bow, looking aft, you get a feel for the scale of the job and what had to be done to get her to a point when she was ready for paint. At this point in the job, much of the remaining prep was hand sanding tiny areas that need final prep before priming and finish paint.

A few weeks ago, it was hard to believe that the job would ever be done.

Up near the bow there are many nooks that can not be reached by mechanical sanders. Very fiddly work. I can only imagine.

The dust in the cockpit was epic. And everything is masked to protect it from damage.

Much of the hardware was removed but some was just lifted and left in place prior to painting. These clutches had leaked for years so it’s good to have them rebedded.

All and all, the job has gone about as expected and while this is the rainy season in Trinidad, they expect to be doing the topcoat in the next week or so. After that, masking to then add non-skid . Good idea as it would wreck my whole day if I slipped and fell off of the boat 🙁

There has been one major setback in the job when they opened up an area at the aft of the cockpit that also appeared to be damp. It’s more extensive than anticipated but I suppose that’s par for the course.

However, from the time that I did a series of video calls with Amos and his team from Essex when Pandora was on a mooring in the river last summer, we were able to come up with an estimate that has basically stuck all through the job.

My only regret is that I did not listen to my friends that have been keeping their boats in Trinidad over the years as it would have been better if I had taken Pandora there for work sooner.

From my perspective the experience has been positive enough that I am going to put on a webinar on August 28th with Salty Dawg talking about Trinidad as a good place to keep your boat during the hurricane season. Chris Parker, the weather router, will cover that portion of the program. I will also share details of the work done on Pandora and will have Amos talk a bit about what sorts of services are available on the island. Finally, Jesse James, who helps cruisers on the island with tours, taxi service and general support clearing into Trinidad with join the discussion.

If you are curious, you can sign up to participate in this free webinar that will be held on August 21st. Follow this link to sign up. No need to be a member of Salty Dawg. It is open to all and if you miss it live you will be sent a link to the recording.

Finally, I should thank my friend Lynn, pictured below with Jesse, for relentlessly encouraging me to consider Trinidad as a place to leave Pandora and have work done on her.

Good call Lynn…

As they say about well done projects, “it’s 95% preparation” and especially in Trinidad, perspiration”. Yes, it has been a big job and I can’t wait to see Pandora when she’s done.

Soon, it seems. Soon.