Category Archives: Boat Details

Raiatea Carenage: Fiberglass Repair

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Raiatea Carenage has a well-known reputation for good fiberglass work.  Fiberglass work is tricky as you have to ensure you don’t compromise the integrity of the boat (our hull).  Plus, you want it to be visually pleasing.  Try matching 20-year-old gel coat!

We stopped by the yard a week before our haul out date.  The owner, Dominique wanted to see the damage to determine the amount of work it would require.   The dent occurred in Hao during a torrential storm (see “Disaster Strikes Maramu” blog post).  The dent and scratches are about 1.5 meters long, 1 meter tall, and 20-30 cm deep.  It does not penetrate through and there is no hole!  Thank goodness!

The work began bright and early on Tuesday morning.  First the owner, Dominique and his worker, Teina tapped the boat.  They are looking for the bulk head and any possible delamination.

Dominique and Tiana

Dominique and Tiana

Then the heart wrenching act of taking a grinder to your boat!  It is horrible to watch someone grind away the gel coat and fiberglass, but it has to be done. 

Grinding down the fiberglass

Grinding down the fiberglass

Layering the fiberglass

Next, Teina mixes the resign and hardener to make epoxy.  It’s all art and science.

Starting with small pieces of fiberglass, Teina places it in the center of the area (the deepest section). He layers concentric circles to spread the load.  More and more layers, each one gradually bigger than the last.  Matt was impressed with the number of layers of fiberglass.  He assumed they’d put 4-5 layers but instead they put 12-13 layers.

Layering the fiberglass

Layering the fiberglass

Then he sands it down to ensure it is level with the rest of the boat.

Then the hard part begins.  Trying to color match 20-year-old gel coat.  Poor thing, tried 5/6 mixes before telling me “no good.”  He walked away to make more mix.  Try and try again. I think no matter how close you get; it will still look like a patch. The unfortunate thing is that it is right next to a previous patch from an incident that occurred in Trinidad many moons ago.  Can you tell the difference between the two whites in the photo below?

Gel coat application

Gel coat application

A light sand, more gel coat, light sand more gel coat.  Constantly trying to match the 20-year-old color.  It is artwork, truly. You can see (1st photo) the repair). the 2nd photo shows color disparity, the rest show them trying to fix with gel coat.

Perfecting the Work

They worked on it for several days.  Ensuring the small dents and scratches were filled in, the entire surface smooth, and the color matches as closely as possible.  They worked tirelessly perfecting it each time.

Teina is wet sanding and smoothing the surface, then more gel coat.  I swear this man is so patient and persistent!

Usually the new paint absorbs the UV differently than the old paint.  But for now it looks pretty darn good.

Protecting the Shack

They needed to paint the monohull in front of us so we watched them resurrect a huge tarp to protect Sugar Shack.   It was so funny! They tied one end to the giant ferry to our right (the Aremiti) and then they tied the other end to the fork lift and raised it up to cover our boat.

A huge dinghy pulled in to get serviced and she was almost as big and certainly way more expensive than our boat.

Out for a Walk

There is not much to do on the yard when you have workers all over the boat. I can write the blog and we can do small projects (like the prop work, lazy jacks), but for the most part we are antsy.  We go for walks, but there is nothing around the yard.  The closest magasin (market) is over a mile away.  But we head there anyway because why not?  We did pass this beautiful little church on the way.  Look at the pretty green mountains in the background.

Prop Work

Matt worked on the props while the yard was working on the fiberglass work.  We needed to remove all the barnacles and growth from the props and change the zincs.  So much easier to do this on the hard than in the water. (See blog post “Underwater Mechanic”)

He changed the small zincs on both props and we are good to go for several more months!

Mast head Work

Matt wanted to do three things at the top of the mast. 

  1. Tighten and adjust the windex
  2. Test the AIS antenna which was acting weird
  3. Measure the top lazy jack line that is frayed

We set up the climbing harness and a safety line and up he goes.  It took 5 trips up the 20 meter mast.  Keep in mind that the boat is about 8 meters off the ground so he is really, really high up.

He was able to fix the windex, tried several tests on the AIS antenna and measured the lazy jacks. 

It took Matt a day and a half to recreate our lazy jacks that had frayed.  Originally he was only going to do the top portion, but he ended up replacing all of them.  Mission complete!  The lazy jacks hold the sail bag which holds the main sail.

This and That

We are usually up early to catch the sunrise.  It is pretty even when you are at the yard.

Check in on our next blog (part III) as we do a full wash/wax job and get new bottom paint.  If you missed part I of this series, check out “Raiatea Carenage Haul Out.”

The events of this blog post occurred on 15 September 2020.  The blog post are 4-6 weeks behind our adventures.

15' ladder

Raiatea Carenage Haul Out

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It was time to haul Sugar Shack out and I was on pins and needles!  We left our anchorage at 0600 and arrived at Raiatea Carenage at 0715.  Arriving early, we had 30-45 minutes to wait so we hovered by the entrance and watched them prepare the platform.  We were being hauled out on the platform and would remain on the platform while they do the work.

Five employees worked diligently to get the platform ready and lowered into the water.  They store it on a driveway (for lack of better word), and slowly let it descend into the water.  Once in the water, they set lines based on our boat’s dimensions.  When they are ready, the wave us in.  Photo: #1 shows the platform on the driveway (below the monohulls) with rails.  #2 shows the platform lowering into the water, #3 shows the workers in the water waiting for us to drive up to them.

Look where the man in blue shorts is standing – he is on rails which is part of the platform on the cement slope.  The #2 has the platform half in and half out of the water.  

Raiatea Carenage platform haul out

Raiatea Carenage platform haul out

It is really freaky driving over huge steel rails with people standing on them!  What if we hit the rails?  Or a person, or the ground?  Oh my goodness!

Raiatea Carenage has a platform system which is pulled by an 8 to 1 pully system that required constant lube and water.  The top photo shows the owner, Dominique operating the pully system and the bottom photo is the platform attachment point.

Securing the Boat to the Platform

Once the boat is aligned, they start attaching lines.  This was a constant push and pull to get the boat centered on the platform.  They attached a line from the starboard bow to the port side platform and from the port bow to the starboard platform (a criss cross).  Then they repeated the same thing with the stern.  Next, they attached a line from the center of the bow to the center of the platform and from the center of the stern to the center of the platform (prevent forward and reverse movement).

Securing Sugar Shack to platform

Securing Sugar Shack to platform

Lifting Out of the Water

The pully pulls the platform out of the water.  The platform’s outer edges glide over rollers which are on rails.  It was shocking to see the workers right in front of the platform adjusting these rollers while under water!  I could not believe the danger they put themselves in.  The photos below show what they are doing once the platform came out of the water – but they did this under water too.  They place the rollers under the steel rails to allow a continuous movement of the platform.  Yes, the entire platform that holds our boat is directly over his fingers.

Almost out of the water, you can see the entire platform and pully system

You can see the wood blocks they placed, while under water, to set the boat on the platform.  They put them under our bulk heads (the strongest part of the boat) to support us on the platform.

This is the fun ladder I get to climb up and down on to get to shore.  I hate it!  It wobbles and is creepy.

15' ladder

15′ ladder

PRESSURE WASHING

We still had soft growth and algae on the boat, despite the fact that we cleaned the water line and the bottom of the boat the day before we arrived.  The start of the work is pressure washing the boat. As you can see, we are in desperate need of a bottom job (new paint).  We change the color of our bottom paint to know how many layers down we are.  On the center photo you can see at least 5 colors!  Yikes!  And look at that growth. Workers are pressure washing the boat in the top photos.  The bottom photos show the boat after the work is done. 

Pressure washing the grime away

Pressure washing the grime away

Hauling out other boats

Today was an extremely busy day for Raiatea Carenage. They hauled out 6 boats.  The yard used the platform to haul Sugar Shack out.  The same workers used a 25-ton trailer to haul out another catamaran.  The catamaran had to navigate down a narrow waterway to get lifted out by a trailer.  A mono and 4 other boats were lifted out by a travel lift.

French Polynesia Can Be Dangerous

There have been many stories of boats running aground in French Polynesia. Especially in the Tuamotus where there are lots of coral heads and hidden reefs. Four boats were severely damaged after running aground last year.  Raiatea Carenage was still working on three of them when we arrived..

Over 135 boats have been repaired at this yard since 1987.  That is almost 2 boats a month that run aground!

This yard has a great reputation for fiberglass repair work.  Which is good considering we have fiberglass repair work to do on Sugar Shack!  However, it is difficult to see these horribly damaged boats.

This 45’ lagoon is a charter boat.  It ran aground and tore off the bottom of both hulls.  They had to make a mold of the hull using another lagoon in order to recreate the original.  You can actually stand underneath and be inside the boat!

These three boats did not seem repairable, but they were going to try!

This beautiful 47’ Outremer was on a mooring in Fakarava (Tuamotus) during a maramu (big storm).  The mooring gave out and the yacht ended up on the reef.  They had both hulls and rudders damaged beyond repair.  Raiatea Carenage sent 4 people to Fakarava to transport the boat to Apataki yard and do a temporary repair which took 3 weeks.  Then they sailed it to Raiatea Carenage to finish the work (which is still a work in progress 8 months later).

Facilities

Here is a photo of the lovely bathroom that we’ve been using.  They have one head and one shower (with no locking door).  We share it with everyone at the yard and even some of the boats at the anchorage.  Luckily we have not had to wait much.

We’ve seen several people do laundry here too.  The yard provides us with water and electricity for the boat.  Good thing as we get to keep the house batteries at 100% which is rare when we are not plugged in.

The yard has access to a sail loft and two small marine stores.  They do everything here including fiberglass, wood work, metal work (aluminum, stainless, steel), paint, electrical, mechanical, plumbing.  They have a boat building business, towing and shuttle.  Very successful!

Check in on our next blog as we begin the fiber glass repair and start on a few other boat projects.

The events of this blog post occurred on 14 September 2020.  The blog post are 4-6 weeks behind our adventures.

Ouch

Disaster Strikes – Maramu

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One of the reasons we decided to tie up to the old basin was because there was a maramu (storm) in the forecast and we wanted to avoid a disaster.  The four boats in the basin took all of the necessary precautions – or so we thought.  Let me paint a picture.

The old military basin is an upside down “U” shape with the entrance at the opening of the U.  The wall on the right, facing the lagoon is taller and has a 42’ mono and Sea Jay 50’.  The taller wall proved to be a life saver for these two boats.  The opposite side of the U, where we are, faces the shore.  The wall is at an angle where we are tied up and then it straightens out where a mono and our friends on Hoodoo are located.

Preparing for a Maramu

Holding us to the dock were (2) bow lines (one from port and one from starboard bow peaks), (2) spring lines and (2) stern lines (port and starboard).  In addition, we had (4) large, round A4 fenders and (2) F4 fenders between us and the dock and al of the fenders were touching the water when we went to bed.  Everything was secured and stowed on the deck and bow.  But we did leave up our sun/rain shades to try to prevent a flood of water coming into the cockpit.  We also left out our cushions which are “secured” to the boat.  

We’ve been through several maramus and we were not expecting a disaster.  Normal water level is shown below.  The tide flooded the basin so much that the bottom of Sugar Shack’s Port hull threatened to land on top of the dock.

Maramu Strikes

Fast forward to 11:30pm at night when Matt and I are woken up by a horrible bashing noise, winds blowing over 42kts, thunder, and lightning, and pounding rains.  We jumped up and realized SS was banging (not rubbing) against the concrete wall.  The lagoon was filled so high that it flooded the basin raising the water level at least 1.5 meters.  That in and of itself would not have been bad if it was not accompanied by a meter swell which tossed SS almost on top of the dock several times. 

It took Matt, Yanell, Missy and I everything we had to keep her safe.  In the pouring rain, we added (4) more F4 fenders between the boat and tried to push SS off the dock.  About an hour later the storm subsided and we saw the damage — a rather large 1/4” dent that was about 1 meter wide with lots of scratches.  Nothing we can do in the middle of the night.

Maramu is Not Done with Us

Then at 0230 another, stronger storm hit.  We had lowered all the fenders and placed fenders floating in the water to prevent SS from continuing to bash against the concrete.  What a disaster! Running between SS and HooDoo to make sure all of our boats were safe.  If you can imagine the rain falling so hard that it actually hurt our faces!  We could not wear hats because the wind would blow them off.  It was terrible.  Unfortunately, SS took the brunt of the storm because we were closest to the entrance and on the slanted part of the dock.  We blocked the majority of the waves and storm from Queen B and HooDoo.  (Nice of us, right?)

Around 0400 the weather calmed enough for Matt to go out in the dingy to put an anchor out in the middle of the basin.  He then attached it to our starboard mid-cleat to pull the boat further off the wall.  Around 0430 we finally got an hour of sleep.  By sunrise we were evaluating the damage and trying to figure out what else we can do to prepare for Thursday’s storm.  We added a stern line from starboard to a mooring pulling the stern further away from the wall and adjusted all the lines and fenders again. Luckily Thursday night was only 30-35kts of wind, little rain, and no flooding.  We scared it away with all of our preparedness.

The Damage

We almost lost one of our 2-meter cockpit cushions and a sunshade.  Both caught up by the lifelines and saved.  We had one sunshade tear before we could get it off and we lost 2 fender covers.  But the worst damage is the hull which could have been a much bigger disaster.  We don’t think there is structural damage.  We have a thin layer of fiberglass, then honeycomb, then fiberglass.  But there is about a 1/4” dent with lots of scratches that stretch across 2 meters of the port hull.  We will have to repair it when we are hauled out (Tahiti or NZ).

Sea Jay lost a small cockpit cushion but found it the next morning as a local was carrying it and walking away.  Lucky them.  HooDoo and Queen B have some small scratches on the hull that will buff out.  Yesterday we spent the day adding anchors and lines to all the boats to keep them off the dock making the basin an obstacle course but will help us avoid further disaster. 

The good news is that we are all safe and unhurt.  The boat can be mended.  We are lucky.

Weather Predictions Get it Wrong

Matt took a screen shot of Predict Wind’s screen which showed what was predicted and what came through.  Unfortunately, it does not give minute by minute updates. In addition, it never accurately showed the wind strength, amount of rain or correct wind direction.   But it gives you an idea of how “off” weather predictions can be. In and of itself that is a disaster. 

This post was written in June 2020.  Our blog posts are usually 8 to 10 weeks behind are true adventures.