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
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
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
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
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.
