Congratulations. Sounds like you got a winner there.

One good piece of advice I got is that, when you first buy a boat in sailing condition, you shouldn't do much work on it for a year or so (except safety issues).

Go ahead and sail the hell out of it. See what works and what doesn't. Your plans will change.

Naturally, I didn't follow this advice. I ended up regretting one or two "improvements" and having to re-do others.

Self tailing winches are great. Once you get them, you can't go back. But, if you buy them new, they will probably cost almost as much as you paid for the boat. Don't buy Harkens. You have to remove them from the base to fully service them. A real pain.