PRACTICAL
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jake Ball is a 19-year-old student who
has been on and around boats for
almost all of his life. He began dinghy
sailing aged 5 and is now a qualified
dinghy instructor. His life aboard
Epona is spent reading, cooking,
playing guitar and drinking wine!M
eet Epona, my fin-keel
Pandora 22, built
around 19 7 2 and
designed by Van de
Stadt. When I met her
she was particularly unloved, having
been abandoned by her previous
owners at my sailing club (Hythe,
Southampton) and left to fill her
swampy bilges with rainwater,
slowly leaking through her shoddy
windows and overflowing aft locker.
I first nosily stepped on board in 2013
when summer was on its way. I was 17,
in my first year of college and putting a
daily effort into passing my driving test
as quickly as possible. For almost all of
my life I have sailed on cruisers, mostly
belonging to my dad, but I have also
always been a keen dinghy sailor. After
having won the winter series at my club
the previous year, and getting tired of
associating sailing with ‘wet’ and ‘cold’,
I thought it was about time I had a go on
Restoring a Pandora
Any misgivings Jake Ball might have had about opening Pandora’s
box – ie, restoring a conspicuously tatty Pandora 22 – were more
than ameliorated when he managed to get her afloat once more
something more accommodating!
I climbed up the side of the cradle
and clambered through the unlocked
forehatch to assess the disgusting state
in which Epona had been left. As I looked
around, trying my best not to breathe in
the muggy old air, I nevertheless knew I
had to have her.
There was debris strewn across the
damp bunks, her walls were covered in
grime, and the floor – which was under
the water – was covered in slime. Yes,
her bilges were filled and overflowing, and
there was a definite tide line just below
the galley, at least 1ft above the floor.
Since she had been abandoned, Epona
was now the property of the club, who
had her up for sale at £500. However, my
offer of a mere £400 was swiftly accepted,and I was able to crack on with the work:
after passing my driving test, I had the
means to reach the club on my own
whenever I could.
My first course of action was to remove
everything: there wasn’t a single item on
board that wasn’t sodden, mouldy, rusting
or just disgustingly dirty. It was decided
that the toilet was more trouble than it was
worth, so it was completely removed. The
old gas cooker was more rust than stove
so it was also torn out, although I hung on
to the gimbals for future use. This ruthless
sort-out, with numerous trips to the dump,
gave me an idea of what sort of kit she
had and which bits were still useable.
Her collection of sails came as a
pleasant surprise: original mainsail,
genoa, working jib and storm jib. The
main was admittedly very baggy and
the jibs very dirty, but given their age
the foresails were otherwise in good
condition. I managed to salvage some of
the less revolting foam bunk cushions
(some had to be replaced), and after
they’d been washed and dried my mum
kindly made some new covers for them.
The second task was the cleaning –
a laborious job, but very rewarding. This
began, of course, with the pumping out of
her bilges, but was followed by me, clad
in swim shorts, scrubbing away at every
inch with a bucket of washing-up liquid
and bleach kitchen cleaner. I’m not sureRaring to go – all
loaded up in the
Hamble complete
with ‘spoiler’ to
support the mast
during trips down
the French canals