When we arrived back in Fiji on 6 march 2013, Helena was in a bad shape, she was not made cyclone ready, because we taught we would be back in November and sail to New Zealand, so mid of December the Marina was hit full center with cyclone Evan, worst cyclone in 40 years, at the airport close bye the measured winds up to 260km/hour.
The hard bimini I made a few years before was partly broken, the neighbour boat had metal outlets on the side and scratched the hull badly, so I decided that we would give Helena a new paint job. After making a new hard bimini, replacing the batteries, new covers on the side, a lot of washing and cleaning and a hundred other jobs we were ready to go on the hard and give here a new color.
To save money I did the job myself with the help of a local laborer, I made my own system to spray, with the dive compressor and a air reducer, it worked just fine.
This photo was taken just after the cyclone by Linda who was here at the time when the cyclone hit.
Making the new hard bimini, I made a edge around to catch water when it rains.
Going in the slip to get hauled.
Getting a high pressure wash
Our place for the next three weeks.
My helper Tekiko at work sanding the hull.
Me spraying the primer.
Dive tank with air reducer.
Dive compressor, filling tanks up to 240 bar.
My other helper.
Spraying the first coat of blue.
Spraying and sweating, second coat of blue.
Three coats later.
