On the sleepy island of Liapari near Vella (see post May 6th 2008 for how to get there) there is a shipyard, the only well operated shipyard in the Western Solomons. There is a small slip on Kolombangara Island nearby, at the Kukundu Mission. It is mostly used to slip their own mission boats (the Vari Vato and the Mauri, a large yacht used to transport doctors) but they accept other yachts when the slip is available. About 160 AUD haul out and 65SBD per meter per day, from memory. But organizing anything with them is challenging: hardly possible to get a phone number!! So it is only a good option if Liapari is not available.
Noel Hudson’s slipway at Liapari island was a great and only option: charging fair but high rates -Australian-, he got the job well done with means that are definitely not that of an Australian cleanlift!
The job really used 10 labourers and Noel himself to dive on the keel and adjust the frames, with a bit of shouting and carrying on. Yachts are very light vessels for the slip, which takes barges up to 200T, so the slip can sometime float and lose the rails, arrghh!
It’s best to bring the yacht plans with keel, and hull dimensions to discuss first. Long keel easy, but fin keel and small yachts (less than 25 foot) possible but not recommended. Specs help Noel prepare the job properly.
Diving is required to put a plank under short keels and bolt the frames into place. A patient hit and miss exercise.
The creeking winch ran by a big old diesel engine slowly hoisted the KUNA and because of her funky keel she came up on a bit of a list, which really does not affect a paint job too much, except for the few extra blocks that had to be placed for support.
Previous JOTUN semi hard antifouling had lasted 18 months with not huge amount of hard organisms fouling the hull (mostly slime and algae, and a few bryozoans). Although regular scrub was helpful, it does cut a dent in the paint. Diving to give the hull an intense scrub just before slipping was a huge time saver: there is no karcher/pressure washer here, though a tractor can be hooked up to a citern and a compressor for a large pric, so only a bucket fresh water rinse could be done! The waterline was raised 5 cm: it seems tropical surface algae are more tenacious than on the Queensland coast.
The boys are trying to look why the slipway does not roll back down. Again, 11T is too light for it!
With the slip playing up on the way back down, nothing was easier than just grabbing a coconut tree and push down further with a bulldozer – Solomon way!
PAINTS: KUNA is now testing the local APCO/ Asian Paint antifouling (owned by a dutch company but produced under licence in Fiji). It is five times cheaper than the International in the Solomons. Best is to bring own paint if you can. It seems to dry fast enough to dodge the tropical showers. 2 coats applied, 3 under the waterline. see how long it lasts.
And definitely bring own anodes because they are twice the Australian price here!
Gizo is the best town in the west for supplies, especially fresh stuff from the market (see next post for a map). Anchoring in the mud opposite the bulk fuel supply is the most protected place. On the hardware store front, there is five to chose from. If buying antifouling, the local recommendation was not to buy the paint from the stores located on the northern end of town because the stocks do not turn over much: the stores are too far for people to walk to! Good prices were found in the shop opposite the PT109 yacht club. The local antifouling is a fifth of the price of international paints and worth the try (still 450 SBD/80$ AUD 4 L can!). As usual, one holds its breath withdrawing cash at the ANZ teller, hoping the money is going to come out, which is not always does.
Liapari is also a good anchorage, Noel provides security for yachts and likes yachties and is overall a nice island to hang out. Be warned of the large croc if swimming though. It is lurking around. Market on Tuesdays and Fridays brings some good products from nearby Vella Island to the station.
Previously, Liapari was a coconut plantation. The trees are now 90 years old, but not exploited anymore. The engineer Noel gave some good stats about coconuts:
A tree produces a falling nut every week. There are about 13500 trees in the plantation. It takes 1000 nuts to make 100L of coconut oil with the press. This oil can potentially be used as biofuel in low rev diesel engines. To be viable, the operation must turn over 200L per day. One can do the rest of the productivity calculations. I have no brain today!
