The spray hood has an appointment with the local sail marker for mods. As for performance, 2 things that are really nice are first setting the twist of the main and using the traveller to dump some wind during gusts when sailing close to the wind. Second is being able to pull the main to windward in light airs.
The solar panel is a 38 watt version and the most I have seen is about 1.2 amps/hr which helps to offset the electronics, auto pilot, fridge etc......