MIRADOR'S EXTERIOR

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 This is Mirador in Echo Bay, Succia Island in the Northern San Juan Islands just south of the Canadian border.  That is my brother Jim standing on the bow.  Jim spends four to six weeks on Mirador, in the cool Pacific NW, each summer in order to escape the summer heat and humidity of SW Florida.

Some special features we added to Mirador are visible in this picture:

- Sterling LP paint on hull above waterline - new in February 2004.

 - Atlantic Towers arch which supports four solar panels and the outboard motor hoist.  The panels also provide rain and sun cover for the aft portion of the cockpit. The tower provides a safe and convenient place to store fishing poles and spare lines.

- The bimini top that covers the center of the cockpit.  A matching sunbrella section connects to the dodger and the bimini to fully cover the cockpit. 

- The dodger was new in June 2006 and includes Stratglass windows which are coated with real glass and are almost scratch proof.

- Twelve ( 12 !! ) port holes  and seven ( 7 !! ) overhead hatches which provide maximum possible air flow inside the boat
- Main cabin has four hatches and six portholes,  owners cabin has an overhead hatch and four portholes

- Lazy jacks that allow no hands lowering of the main in any conditions

- The adjustable 13' - 24' Forespar pole that is on a dedicated track on the front of the mast. 

- Fold out steps on mast all the way to the spreader and two at the mast head.

- Anchorlina reel on the starboard cockpit railing, just in front of the flag.  The reel holds 200' of 2" nylon webbing with a 2000 pound working strength. A 22#  Danforth anchor is attached to the nylon web line and works very easily as a stern anchor.  The anchor line deploys automatically and can be easily retrieved by inserting a winch handle into the center of the reel and cranking in the line.  

In the picture to the right you can see the asymmetrical spinnaker pulling Mirador along at 4.6 knots in 6.4 knots of apparent wind coming from 90 degrees off the starboard side. The Pryde spinnaker is 1200 square feet and very easy to launch, fly, and retrieve.  It is functional in any winds from about 4 knots apparent to 25 knots apparent and apparent wind angles from 150 degrees to 60 degrees. 

This picture was taken off the east coast of Baja California Sur, about 5 miles east of Loreto.  I was single handing the boat at the time and flew the spinnaker in these conditions for most of the afternoon.

In the picture below Arlene is standing watch as we head south from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas.  We were about 40 miles west of the Baja west coast and about 35 miles north of Isla Cedros.

You can see we are making 6.9 knots in 14 knots of wind from 150 degrees apparent.  We have the 120% genoa up and the full main is held hard to port with a big rubber band and 4:1 block and tackle.   No one is at the helm and the boat is tracking perfectly.  A normal day off shore for Mirador.

Arlene is wearing a self inflating life vest with a built in harness.  The harness is attached to a tether which is connected to a 2" padeye bolted to the port side of the cockpit just above the floor. 

You can also the Raytheon R20XX radar mounted under the dodger on the port side of the cabintop.  The radar display is easily seen from anywhere in the cockpit.

The picture to the right shows the Sailomat windvane steering the boat at good speed downwind.  The picture was taken immediately after I took the picture above so we know Mirador was doing about 6.9 knots. 

We did not have the wind paddle attached to the steering vane at the time the picture was taken.  We were using the ST1000 tillerpilot to steer the boat on a magnetic course.  The tillerpilot is the gray box extending from the cockpit aft rail to the blue base of the steering pendulum.  The tillerpilot moves the pendulum arm to keep the boat on a specified magnetic heading rather than an apparent wind heading.

We used the tillerpilot when the winds were very steady and we wanted to stay on a particular magnetic course.  We found that the winds from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas were amazingly steady out of the NNW and the tillerpilot easily kept us on the rhumb line to our next stop.

The round stainless fitting in the bottom center of the picture, just inboard of the wood step on the transom, can be removed to connect the emergency tiller to the rudder post.  We have tested the system several times but have never had to use it in an emergency situation.