After over 2 years sailing around the Mediterranean, our hastily applied antifoul has all but worn off. We were well overdue for a haul out and if we were ever to get Paikea ready for an Atlantic crossing we needed to work on the hull of the boat.
We knew that one of our rudders needed to be replaced and we wanted to fix the skin fittings so that they sat flush with the hull. We also had a few suspect areas that needed further inspection. It was possible there were cracks in the hull and if we did not address them soon they could become a serious problem. Haul out wasn’t going to be straight forward as we were a metre too big for the travel lift pen and because of access, we needed a 100 tonne crane with a big reach.