Porter Marina- Cebu Is- The Philippines- Nov 2008

26 Nov, 2008
We had arrived safe and sound at Porter Marina and Shipyard on Monday and that afternoon the divers came and measured up as they need to make a special cradle for each boat they slip. Tuesday the boys welded the cradle and Wednesday they inched us up. There were 8 men, a truck, a tracker, the Boss and 2 divers! The divers were using air straight from an ordinary compressor via a long hose, as they went under the boat to place the wedges on top of the struts to hold us steady. It was a bit near racking but they did an amazing job even though there was a lot of jabbering. Once we were steady on the cradle the tractor slowly pulled us out. Phew! I'd rather come out on a travel lift but these guys did very well.
(Remember to click on the photos to enlarge them.)

Into the Slip for Haulout.

The rudder damage was not a pretty sight as the bottom section of it was bent up at about 30 Degree angle something like this \ and it had a big split in the fibreglass. It made my stomach churn to see it. However, Tom assured me that it was all repairable. At this stage we did not know what damage had been done to the skeg. The main thing was we were somewhere where it could be fixed. It would just may take time and money .

Damaged Rudder. Not Pretty!

Very quickly the boys had the rudder out and they started working on it. Tom was overseeing the work as well as working with the boys.

Taking the Rudder Out.

It was so hot that our fridges were having trouble as they are water cooled when we are in the water and air cooled when we are out of the water. We had all the fans on so at least they were coping. Also we couldn't run the aircon while up on the slip so we were a tad sticky. We were up so high that we had a panoramic 360 degree view. We could see the village behind us and watch the villagers collecting mussels at low tide and heading out to fishing in their banacs. Also we had views across Cebu Harbour to Mactan Is as well as over the city and the mountains. It was a "million dollar view!"

One day we were able to witness a Religious Fiesta and the blessing of the fleet of about 10 small fishing boats (bancas). Sadly it was too dark to take photos.

The Damaged Rudder

By Dec 1 we were still on the slip as the machine shop was having difficulty straightening the shaft. Tom had sent the rudder back twice and finally he went in to make that the shaft was straight and sure enough when they came back it was STRAIGHT. The next step was for it to be epoxied together, then painted with 3 different coats of goo.

Tom Checking All is Well

Straight as Straight Can Be Yeah!

Very soon it was 7 Dec and we were still on the slip as the weather messed us around preventing the boys from fiberglassing. Day by day Tom and the boys worked on the rudder and then the anti fouling and finally after 17 days on the slip we were back in the water!