It had become increasingly noticeable (and frustrating) to see how much the performance of the boat was being affected by the dirty hull. In regular sailing conditions (ie +/- 15 knots and an albeit conservative sail plan) we were struggling to get the boat to sail well. Even motoring we were losing at least half a knot if not more.
The last antifoul was done a year ago and despite fairly regular attention cleaning it off there was a decent layer of weed all over and in some places the antifoul had basically failed completely. I would have expected more from the antifoul, but a combination of sitting still in a marina for more than 4 months and a year of rich, sundrenched tropical waters had obviously tested it to breaking point.
So after Edward and Alicia had left us in Raiatea, we investigated whether CNI could accommodate us relatively soon for a quick haulout. We did not want to hang around too long, keen as we are now to provision up and start heading east through the Tuamotus and on to the Gambiers. However, the idea of doing those 1500 to 2000 miles dragging a forest with us was not great. Some of the sailing may be quite difficult up wind with limited weather windows, so we want the boat to be on its best behaviour.
Fortunately CNI could fit us in within a couple of weeks and in the meantime we would enjoy the quiet weather to go to the south and west sides of Raiatea as we talked about in the last blog.
Come Tuesday 12th we pottered over to the CNI yard and were hauled out on a trailer pulled behind a tractor. The yard team were all very good and the usual Polynesian cheerful, friendly and helpful (as always forgiving my mangling of their language). Once parked, they set to cleaning, sanding and redoing the antifoul.
In the meantime (with some help from Fred, the shipwright), I dropped the rudders to replace the bearings which had been showing a bit of wear. Getting the parts had proved very difficult and expensive when I had tried earlier, but Fred tapped his friends from the nearby charter fleet and produced them within the hour and at a fraction of the cost. What a star.
My other top job was to put our new replacement feathering propeller on the port engine. We did have a pair, but this port one had been damaged and a new one was procured (at great expense) from Germany. Since our last haulout in Nov 23 we had been chuffing around with one feathering prop and one 2 blade fixed. The new one sitting in a box. Happily it went on relatively easily and we now have a very smart new prop down there.
Other than that, I took the time to service the engines and clean them, giving them a thorough once over to make as sure as I could that they are 100%. Ditto the outboard and the windlass. All critical pieces of our moving marvel.
Meanwhile Deb had been running the herculean laundry service. We had booked an Airbnb down the road and the only stipulations had been that it had a fridge, kitchen and washing machine. That fella ran all day for 3 days as Deb put load after load into it (11 at last count) cleaning everything that could be cleaned. We do some washing on the boat and use a laundromat from time to time for larger items, but that still leaves heaps of towels, linen and seat covers that need a good strong wash periodically. (Installing a machine aboard is possible and on the to do list, but not here in FP – too expensive and we would rather be cruising than renovating.)
So we were out of the water on Tuesday afternoon, frantically busy for a while then back in the water Friday morning with all the major jobs done – clean hull, near rudder bearings, new propeller and a sparkling clean interior too. The CNI team were all great to work with and it was about a third of the cost of doing the same in Papeete.
Now we are back at one of our favourite spots (Motu Ceran) just chilling out, no chores, snorkelling and afternoon siesta. It is about to get windier again as a high passes south of us and the SE gets reinforced. As soon as that passes we hope there will be a window to get back to Papeete to restock and get moving east.