A haul-out at Bira is a tide operation on an open foreshore, not a lift into a basin. The hull is drawn up on ways with rollers or a cradle, blocked and shored on prepared ground, and worked in the open under temporary shelter. Planning therefore starts with three numbers — draught, displacement and keel form — and one calendar: the tide and the season.
What the service covers
Bira Shipyard plans and supervises the whole haul cycle rather than simply booking a beach slot. That means assessing whether the vessel is a sensible candidate for the ground available, preparing the ways and support, running the haul, holding the hull safely while it is open, and planning a relaunch that accounts for how a timber hull behaves in its first days back in the water.
Before the haul
Hull data assessment, ground and ways selection, tide-window calculation, blocking and shoring plan, and a written scope for whatever is to be done while the vessel is up.
During the haul
Supervision of the draw-up, seating on cradle or blocks, shoring to the topsides, and immediate recording of hull condition once the bottom is washed and visible.
While on the hard
Protection from sun and rain on opened timber, weather-aware sequencing, and daily condition reporting so an absent owner is not guessing.
Relaunch
Seam and fastening check, planned take-up period, bilge monitoring for the first days afloat, and a written record of what was found and done.
Tide, season and the honest limits of a foreshore
A foreshore yard gives you two things a basin does not: low overheads and access to shipwright labour that has worked timber on this beach for generations. It also gives you two constraints. The first is tide — the haul and the relaunch both happen inside a window, and a missed window is a wait, not an inconvenience. The second is weather. A hull with planks out and seams open is vulnerable to rain, and to sun, which opens seams faster than most owners expect.
This is why Bira Shipyard will say plainly when a proposed scope does not fit a proposed window. Opening a hull late in a season, with a monsoon transition approaching and a long timber lead-time, is how a six-week job becomes a five-month one. Season planning is discussed in more detail in the yard-slot planning article in the journal.
Vessel suitability
| Factor | Why it matters on a foreshore | What the desk needs |
|---|---|---|
| Draught | Determines how far up the beach the hull must come and how much of the tide is usable. | Loaded and light draught figures. |
| Displacement | Sets ways, roller and cradle specification and the loading the ground must carry. | Displacement, plus current tankage state. |
| Keel form | A long shallow keel takes the ground well; a deep narrow fin needs purpose-built support. | Profile drawing or clear photographs. |
| Hull condition | Soft garboards or wasted fastenings change where the hull may be loaded. | Last survey, known repairs, soft areas. |
| Appendages | Shafts, rudders, skegs and transducers dictate blocking positions. | Photographs of the underbody. |
Blocking and shoring done properly
More timber hulls are damaged sitting still than moving. A hull supported on too few points, or loaded on a plank run that is already soft, will distort — and on a carvel hull that distortion shows up as seams that will not stay tight after relaunch. The blocking plan is therefore drawn against the vessel’s structure, not against whatever timbers are lying on the beach. Where a hull has known weak areas, load is deliberately routed to frames and floors that can carry it.
Shoring is checked and re-checked. Timber shrinks in sun, ground settles under load, and a shore that was tight on day one may be carrying nothing on day ten. This is routine, unglamorous work and it is the least expensive form of damage prevention available on a foreshore.
What normally happens while the vessel is up
- Wash and first lookPressure wash, scrape where needed, and a walk-round with photographs before any decision is made.
- Sounding and probingPercussion sounding across planking, probing suspect areas, and checking fastenings at the garboard, stem and transom.
- Scope confirmationThe pre-arrival scope is confirmed, expanded by change order, or reduced if the hull is better than expected.
- Structural work firstPlanks, frames and fastenings before cosmetics — nothing is painted over until what is under it is settled.
- Seams, sheathing, coatingsCaulking and coating sequenced so nothing is closed up before it is dry.
- Relaunch preparationAnodes, skin fittings, shaft seals and through-hulls checked as a set, not individually.
The take-up period nobody budgets for
A traditional carvel hull that has dried on the hard will take water when it goes back in. That is expected behaviour, not a failure, and it is why relaunch is planned with bilge monitoring, working pumps and someone aboard rather than treated as the end of the job. How long take-up lasts depends on how long the hull was dry, how hot the weather was, and what was done to the seams. An owner told this in advance is an owner who does not panic on day two.
Book a slipway assessment
Send draught, displacement, keel profile and underbody photographs. The desk will confirm whether the ground and the window suit the vessel before any slot is held.
- WhatsApp: +628113823875
- Email: sales@komodoluxury.com
- Quotations: issued in USD after a written scope and a hull inspection.