Raiatea - Haulout

Raiatea - Haulout

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Raiatea Carenage was to be the place where "Mouse Pad" was to have some serious work done on her. The water line was to be raised 5 1/2" along with fixing a serious crack in the starboard side keel fairing. Later we found out that it had delaminated completely. Then there was the long list of projects I was to do and a few other thing that the yard was going to take care of.

I was to spend the next five weeks around the Raiatea area getting one thing after another repaired or waiting for parts. Once "Mouse Pad" was back in the water we spent weekends in Tahaa, Huahini, and different bays around Raiatea. Usually, we were back at the dock on Mondays waiting for the next job to get done. They even gave us our own mooring. We would nose up to the dock next to the slipway, tie off and put a line out to the mooring about 50'+ behind us. This would leave us the ability to just step off the boat, but not swing around at all. Work could be done and we got free shore power.

Raiatea Carenage is the only full facility boat yard we had seen since leaving Cabo San Locus, Baja, Mexico. It was also the only one we would see until Opua, Bay of Islands, New Zealand. There is a small store in the Carenage for paint and paint supplies. Across the street was a very well stocked chandlery. The only problem was that they stocked only metric screws and very few of them. We actually got a very good deal on purchasing a new outboard from them. There is also a company next to the chandlery that builds aluminium boats and will do welding for you for a very nominal fee. They welded the handle on our old Mariner outboard for free.

The main thing to remember when getting work done here is you are on island time. In the mid winter season, the time when most cruisers are about, is when they are at there busiest. For simple self done bottom jobs I saw several cruisers get hauled on Friday and be ready to go back in the water on Monday. Not a difficult task for a couple.

Raiatea Carenage is the only winter storage haulout in the South Pacific. They will haul your boat and store it for the cyclone season and have it ready for you next season. This allows for long term Society Island cruising. They are doing so well at this they are expanding their yard to allow for more boats on the hard. They have a few moorings for boats that are waiting for work but you will have to go to the Moorings facility in the next bay if you need any other type of mooring. The anchorage is very deep, average 90ft, on coral bottom. There is a shallower 20'-30' patch of sand off to one side. But it is the first place to go. In some of the previous pictures it shows "Mouse Pad" anchored on the sandy patch away from the other boats.

Last to get hauled out
They start at 0730 hrs and work right up to nightfall
They are hard working and that busy!

"Mouse Pad's" haulout on a modern 20 ton travel lift.
(They also have an older travel lift but I didn't see them use it.)

These two pictures show the extent of the growth at the water line in just a few days
Reason # 1 for the haulout - RAISE THE WATER LINE ANOTHER 5+ INCHES

Reason #2 for the haulout - SURFACE CRACK ON THE KEEL
Little did I know at that time how bad it was going to get.
So much for the workmanship on the bottom job down only a few months earlier back in California!

This was the extent of the delimitation that was found.
Poor preparation when it was supposed to have been fixed back in California.

Just a couple of views of the strut (P bracket) and rudder
Little did we know that we would see the strut again so soon!
And from very close up! More on that later (see Niue, Vavau, and Gulf Harbor, New Zealand)