As fairly new owners of a large cruising catamaran, we hired Panda to replace our running rigging and electrify two winches.
Keith (AKA Panda) did a terrific job on these and upgraded several elements that we did not know to ask for. He helped us to make all the necessary decisions, giving us the benefit of his many years as a sailor and rigging expert. He used high-grade materials and consulted frequently with us on placement of any items that we might have preferences about. He was patient when we asked questions or fretted about making changes to the boat. His charges were very reasonable for the quality of work done.
In replacing the old rigging, Keith made several improvements to the set-up and that have noticeably improved the performance of the boat. He makes beautiful custom splices and attachments that make sails easier to manage. The finish on everything was sleek and good looking.
His charges were very reasonable, and he was flexible in ways that helped us save on the very considerable cost involved. For example, we were able to order the electric winches online from a vendor who had them on sale. He can bring assistants for tasks requiring specific skills (e.g., fiberglass repair) or tasks that require two people, but he agreed to have us do time-consuming, low-skill tasks - like helping to run wiring and removing & reinstalling headliners when he installed hardware. We saved us many hundreds of dollars of cost and learned more about our boat construction and function. Estimating and managing costs for rigging work is a tricky business, because the rigger can't be sure of how much time some tasks will take. Our job involved removing and moving several large winches, some of which were reluctant to be moved! A lot of time was needed to figure out placement of the electric winches, and he found problems with the rig at the top of the mast that needed to be addressed. Ultimately, he probably charged us for less time than he actually spent planning and working on the job.
Panda also provided quite a lot of helpful advice on other work we needed to maintain the boat. He recommended a sailmaker and helped us decide exactly which sails made sense for our use of the boat. He called in an electrician to consult (with no charge to us) on the complicated wiring of the electric winches. When one of our engines began inexplicably stalling, he called in a mechanic who checked it out and said he thought the problem was a line wrapped around the propeller. Don't know if he was psychic or had x-ray vision, but a quick dive under proved him correct!
All in all, a great experience. We are bringing the boat back this winter so Panda can fabricate and install a custom hardtop bimini to replace our tattered canvas. read more
