409: Our Nerve-Wracking First Trailer Haulout

In this episode, we pick up anchor at the easternmost island of Tonga and set sail for a more protected anchorage before the high winds arrive. Along the way, the boatyard confirms a haul-out date for the following day, so we head straight to their moorings. The next morning, we attempt our first haul-out using a trailer system, but challenging conditions and a trailer issue force us back to the mooring for another night when we return the next day the conditions are even worse and our first experience with this type of haul out system in Tonga is more nerve-wracking than expected will we finally make it out of the water watch to find out pulling out here in a hurry we're hoping we can get past Ian's boat and get our anchor up we think we can we need to get out of here because there is a big storm coming in so we need to get to a place where we're gonna have good protection and not be hammered so we're gonna take off today we're not sure where we're going yet we're kind of just still talking about it doesn't matter there's a whole bunch of places over closer to NAFU and we're trying to get the haul-out yard to take us tomorrow. If they can, that would be amazing to get out of the water before the big storm hits and have the time on land to get the boat fixed while the winds are big. So we'll see what happens. Not sure, but for now, I've got to get out of here first. All right, give me a sec. I think we're up. Not bad. Got out of there without an issue, and now we're behind this huge cat going out too, so that's good. Follow them out. We don't know. Maybe Vaca. Maybe Port Morale. Maybe haul out. You had such a good idea. See you guys again soon. We really hate leaving this place. All of our friends, so beautiful, but the good news is on each of our dives out in the ocean we saw leopard sharks and today we had a great encounter with one. I was practically on top of it before it moved. I couldn't believe how long it let us stay around it. And we just got to see some beautiful life out there just over the last three days and the best coral that we've seen here in Tonga. So really worth coming out to this very, very far east location. We're not gonna be coming back out this far again. Once we haul out and get that done and we get a weather window to the Hopi group, we'll head down there. So our time in the Vava'u group is coming to an end here shortly. Tonga is so pretty, so different than French Polynesia and a lot of places that we've been. So we made a final decision. We're headed up to the Vava'u boat yard moorings and we're headed up there because we are hauling out in two days. We asked them if there was any possibility to do that so that when the big winds come, we're not stuck just doing nothing because when the big winds are here, we're not gonna be able to take the dinghy out and go explore because it will be far too difficult to move around with 30, 35 knot winds. So we would be stuck anyway. And all of our friends are gonna go to Neiafu. So we asked them if there was any possibility of hauling out this week. So two days from now they can haul us out. It'll be our first trailer haul out. And hopefully we'll get done just as all of the bad weather is passing us. This is a really, really strong system. One that we would not wanna be out anywhere other than a super protected anchorage. So it's gonna work out great because everyone else is gonna be stuck on their boats. So we may as well be stuck on our boats getting work done in the boat yards. What a beautiful day. It's so hard to believe that tomorrow at this time, things are gonna be cracking in terms of the wind. Things change around here rapidly. It's so calm today, it's beautiful. Wow, this is amazing. And there's Mr. Amazing. Yes, Mr. Amazing! Almost there, just around the corner. All right, our mooring is set. All is well, as long as the mooring holds, because if not, we're in a bit of a pickle because that's gonna get shallow quickly. This afternoon, we are getting hauled out, and it's gonna be the first time we have been hauled out by trailer, so totally new experience, and unfortunately, we've got a bit of wind today, So it's gonna be a bit tricky is what they said, a little bit of a challenge. Not the words you wanna hear when you're hauling out your boat and getting close to shore. But the ramp for the trailer is just right over there. We're gonna go take the dinghy over there to take a look at what we're gonna be faced with in a couple of hours so that we're prepared. I've already got fenders out and our lines. It's gonna be a tough one. I hope Brown's up for the challenge. The captain always is, but this is not gonna be an easy one for us to get in. He says he likes it a lot. Me, not so much. All right, doing the scouting trip. All right, lovey. It's coming from there. What are you looking for up here? Let's just tie up to the dock here. Just a second, I wanna talk about this. All right, it's a little bit of a rinky dinky dock and the dock is moving. Brown, did you see that? The dock is also in motion, so. It's anchored, it's got a connection. Yeah, oh, I hate this stuff. I absolutely hate this stuff. I love it, it's so much fun, I'm so engaged. All right, we've run through it, woo! Let's hope it goes that way when we get on the big boat. Well, changes are done, woo! Almost ready to get over there. Gotta have a pre-boat yard workout. Yeah. Captain did an amazing job getting the boat in. I had the best gadgets from the Admiral and that's what it's all about. Teamwork. It was perfect. You did a great job. Thank you. So the guys climbed under the boat after we came in and they didn't like the configuration of the trailer. So they've gone up to change out the trailer pads and put in a new system. So far, very thankful that they are on top of it and taking care of things. Yeah, being very careful. That's good. It's our baby. Am I the baby or is that the baby? You compete. Ah, new pad arrangement. Hopefully that'll be better. They maneuvered the boat in a way that they're really happy with where it's sitting now and tightened it up. And so now they're just raising their pads which sit on the bottom of the boat. It's a bit of a challenging day for sure, but it's been about 40 minutes already. already configuration is not right for our boat and they can't do it today so it's gonna be tomorrow we've got to go back out to the mooring ball for tonight i just want to cry and that is such bad news i can't believe it you got to do it again tomorrow oh man we're about three hours out from go time and the wind is howling we're getting some 30 knot wind gusts and we're kind of blowing all over the place and this is going to present a pretty sizable challenge to brown especially at the helm see the gusts coming across the water oh i guess if alan thinks it's okay to go we'll go yesterday was very easy today easy this is yeah yeah it's a big big difference i am sure alan will not do this unless he is absolutely confident that we can get on the dock without a problem because that would just be really bad for him and his team is really good and conservative and they've been great so far so he is also coming on the boat with us on the other hand he's going to want us on there because if not he's got all these boats scheduled out it's going to throw him off so yeah it's his judgment is going to be somewhat clouded with wanting to keep the business going and everything so yeah well not maybe he's not going to take the chance anyway it remains to be seen oh and yes it is cold i have a wool hat on because it is arctic temperatures coming from the south from new zealand and it is chilly that was a good one god it's so wonky in here you know yeah it's swirling boy the windage on this thing at 19. yeah it's a lot well when he gets on board we'll talk through what it is we need to do and how it's going to work and you know he's an expert at this and so that's good i wish i had bigger gaps in between i know that's why i get paid the big bucks that's right baby we have confirmation we are go in less than an hour the good news is alan the owner of the boatyard is coming on board to calm my nerves and maybe calm Brown too i don't know he's a little more agitated today than uh yesterday he was totally fine yesterday was so calm compared to today well with alan on board i feel like we've got the right instruction and he'll help us get in and help us throw lines to make sure we get two connected once we get two connected we're fine everybody takes their home in floating on high winds to get repaired right right isn't that what happens all the time 10 minutes to go time and it's squalls oh yeah let's add a few more complications. Perfect. Well, that squall brought a lot of calm. I'm hoping we could ride the coattails of the calm before the big winds pick up again. That would be really nice. We're waiting for Alan to come on board. If it stays like this, we'll be so thankful. It's still going to be a challenge, but certainly not what it was like about an hour ago. Engines are on. It's go time. How are you doing, Cyril? Good. Great. Thank you. There you go. These guys are champs. Instead of pushing up like this, inside, they're putting it up underneath. Right after that squall thing did it. Yeah, that squall made a huge difference. That was like a transition from really high winds, chaotic winds, to predictable. So good. And doable. From yesterday. This is the basin that he's going to have to come up with the boat on this ramp all the way up here. And I'm not sure where they're going to place this yet. not even at the top of the hill it's taken about an hour and a half to get the trailer under the boat they really struggled I think because of the windage is what they were saying anyway she's up she's out of the water I think they're all relieved but very gonna power wash it and then they're gonna block us and put us on the hard so we've probably got another hour and a half before we are on our stands and then the work begins. Things that we need to do here, we can pull the trailer out is to get it blocked and blocking is really important because this is going to hold the full weight of the boat. So they have to evenly distribute on the keel but they cannot put pressure on the last part of the keel. That part is not supposed to have any kind of blocking on it. I didn't know that. Which part of the keel? the last 25-30 inches. Oh wow. Oh it's not that heavy. We're here because they don't need to use it with anyone else but us so we get to keep the beam. 515 we started at 130 right? Yeah. Incredible. Huge amount of work. Beautiful. Beautiful. You guys have some rake up there? Yeah we'll put it there. Oh the joys of living on the hard here we go. New front yard look at that. Let the footwork begin.