The pronouncement was a surprise but not a shock. Nainoa had seen places where there was dry rot, but the canoe had taken him safely across many oceans and had demonstrated more than seaworthiness, she had shown her mana, her strength of spirit. Retiring Hokule'a to a museum was not an option. Two of the wooden iakos had to be replaced - an onerous job but not exceedingly so. The hull was another matter.
Wooden stringers run lengthwise from bow to stern, providing strength.
There are five such stringers on each side, many of them rotten. The job of fixing all these problems fell to Bruce Blankenfeld. In September, the canoe went into dry-dock. Hokule'a's dry-dock was a shed in a decrepit section of the Port of Honolulu. Bruce set about finding workers.