{"id":14948,"date":"2025-04-29T17:35:53","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T22:35:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=14948"},"modified":"2025-04-29T17:36:36","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T22:36:36","slug":"six-weeks-away-getting-ready-to-splash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=14948","title":{"rendered":"Six weeks&#8230;  Getting ready to splash"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Well, it&#8217;s finally here.  My departure from Trinidad is in a few days and as I prepare for departure, Pandora is crawling with workers.  Just today, a welder, canvas guy, electricians and Amos of Perfect Finish who&#8217;s group has done a wonderful job of painting Pandora&#8217;s hull. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes, there was  lot of work done last summer on Pandora but after spending the season aboard, it seemed like a good idea to head back to Trinidad and have some last minute work done to get her in as perfect shape as possible before departing on my run to Horta.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The work that Amos and his gang did aboard Pandora last summer was first rate but with any job that big (check out older posts for a blow by blow as they replaced much of the side decks) I had a few items that needed work and decided to bring her back.  After all that, it somehow seemed like a good idea to get the hull painted.   I do like a shiny hull. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So now, Pandora is in spectacular shape having been worked over from very bottom of the keel, the hull and up to the top of the hard dodger and that really doesn&#8217;t begin to cover all that was done.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And now, she&#8217;s really shiny and with brand new graphics.  I know that soon someone will come up to visit and their dink will chip the name.  It happens every year.  I guess that&#8217;s the risk of having friends.  I&#8217;ll take it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/PXL_20250429_121134744.MP_.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"525\" height=\"395\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/PXL_20250429_121134744.MP_.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-14949\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/PXL_20250429_121134744.MP_.jpg 525w, https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/PXL_20250429_121134744.MP_-300x226.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 525px) 100vw, 525px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>And to keep from getting scratches on her new shiny hull, I sewed soft covers on my new huge fenders.  Figuring out how to do the pleats was not all that hard but I did have to do a bit of head scratching to be sure that I had it right before cutting the fabric.  All&#8217;s well that ends well in spite of the fact that it took 3 yards of fabric that was 72&#8243; wide to get the job done.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/PXL_20250418_140041447.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"525\" height=\"697\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/PXL_20250418_140041447.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-14951\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/PXL_20250418_140041447.jpg 525w, https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/PXL_20250418_140041447-226x300.jpg 226w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 525px) 100vw, 525px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>If you saw my last post, you know that these fenders are a lot BIGGER than they look.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/PXL_20250414_115733878-1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"525\" height=\"697\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/PXL_20250414_115733878-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-14952\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/PXL_20250414_115733878-1.jpg 525w, https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/PXL_20250414_115733878-1-226x300.jpg 226w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 525px) 100vw, 525px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>After more than a decade of use, our anchor was looking a bit worse for wear so I had it tended to as well.  The shank was a little bent and it was not even a tiny bit shiny.  Now it is, thanks to the welder\/metal worker, Mitchell.  He does great work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/PXL_20250429_184707537.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"525\" height=\"697\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/PXL_20250429_184707537.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-14950\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/PXL_20250429_184707537.jpg 525w, https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/PXL_20250429_184707537-226x300.jpg 226w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 525px) 100vw, 525px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>My crew Ken, who I have been sailing with off and on for decades, will be arriving in two days and will help me move Pandora up the islands to St Maarten where I will join the Homeward Bound Salty Dawg Rally.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once Ken and I depart Trinidad, our first landfall will be Bequia, an overnight, where we will connect with Bill and Maureen aboard Kalunamoo, our oldest cruising buddies.   We plan to stop a number of places as we make our run north to St Maarten where I will connect with the Homeward Bound Salty Dawg Rally, heading to Bermuda to prepare for my departure with the Azores rally, departing on or about June 1st.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, it&#8217;s 6:30pm and the electrician is still aboard. I have had great luck with all of the vendors except this one. He&#8217;s a very nice guy and gets a lot done when he is here but it seems that he&#8217;s always running out for something and stays away for hours at a time.All and all, I have had terrific value and great work here in Trinidad and of the &#8220;army&#8221; that has worked on Pandora, I have been overwhelmingly happy with the outcome. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I just can&#8217;t wait till everyone goes home and I can begin to put the boat back together again.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Perhaps a good place to wind up this post is a link to a number of webcams for the Azores.  There are a LOT of them but you might find something worth looking at.   <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spotazores.com\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.spotazores.com\/\">The general site for all the webcams for the Azores check out this link<\/a>.  For a real time look at the harbor in Horta, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spotazores.com\/pages\/horta.html\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.spotazores.com\/pages\/horta.html\">check out this link.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Soon, out to dinner with a fellow Salty Dawg cruising couple. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pandora splashes at 10:00 tomorrow morning and it will be good to have her ready to go.  In particular, having a fridge and freezer working will be awesome.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s been six weeks since I left Pandora to fly home and now I&#8217;m back.  Sadly, it will be another six weeks till I see Brenda again when we meet up in Horta.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lots still to do but that&#8217;s about it for now.   Time for dinner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Well, it&#8217;s finally here. My departure from Trinidad is in a few days and as I prepare for departure, Pandora is crawling with workers. Just today, a welder, canvas guy, electricians and Amos of Perfect Finish who&#8217;s group has done a wonderful job of painting Pandora&#8217;s hull. Yes, there was lot of work done last [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_s2mail":"yes","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14948"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14955,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14948\/revisions\/14955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}