There were two mystery "things" located under the helm seat that needed to be scraped and repainted(sorry no photos). When I hit them with the putty knife they both disintigrated into rotten spongy wood with some carefully made 1/4" aluminum plates attached to the ends. A post to the Island Packet owners website resulted in an explination. The "things" were actually steering quadrant stops, therefore the aluminum plates on the ends. This is a common occurance in IP27's. The new ones were crafted out of well dried pressure treated 2x4's, coated in fiberglass and painted to match the gelcoat. Glued and through bolted into place now.

I have a color chartplotter ordered for the helm station, going to flushmount my new VHF in the instrument area over the electrical panels down below, add an extension speaker to the cockpit as well. Going to add a 12 volt fan down below, a 12 volt receptacle for "stuff". Also about mid-way through the sanding of the teak and holly cabin sole. That will get multiple coats of semigloss spar varnish. I was thinking of adding a built in AM/FM/CD deck and speakers but was told in no uncertain terms by the admiral that I will NOT be cutting speaker holes in her teak. Perhaps that portable CD player will be fine after all?

Canvas projects for when the snow gets deep. New BBQ and flag covers, going to try and make a one-piece cover for the wheel/pedestal guard/pedestal and cockpit table.