A sad sight and a curious question...

[cdhickey]

We've had some pretty heavy winds and rain over the past few days so I stopped out to check on my boat and found her safe and sound on the hard near our yacht club. When I arrived, I saw this sad, sad sight. The boat is a Paceship 24 that had been left in the water for the winter and tied up along some breastwork.




How would one even go about refloating or recovering this boat? Surely ingenious salvagers have methods, I'm just not sure what they would be. There isn't really crane access from the breastwork, as that is where other boats are stored in their cradles. Even if you could get slings under it, I'd be worried the weight of the water would be too much for the hull.

And I don't want to even think of the costs if the Coast Guard gets involved and starts asking if there was any fuel on board...

*EDIT TO CLARIFY: Not my boat! Not my boat! My boat is safe and dry and smells like teak oil.

[sawingknots]

air bladders in side the cabin and fill with air or make a special hatch with about 3 3" holes insert 2 pump hoses and a air intake hose into the other,pump the water out until above the gunnels then just finish pumping the water out of the cockpit,ofcoarse if theres a catatrastic leak that would need to be sealed first,and yes thats a sad sight

[night0wl]

Sorry to say it, but that boats not worth raising except to clear the obstruction to navigation. She'll be cut up for salvage once hoisted out of the way. Wonder who'll pay for the work.

[mm2187]

I agree that using airbags to displace the water down below. Or anything that is lighter then water. You might be able to use alot of balloons, plastic water bottles, or styrofoam, just enough to get the deck out of the water then pump out the water.

[sawingknots]

if it were mine.i could do it! depending how long its been under would determine the end/ worth,if the engine was attended to immediately and no doubt the wiring/electric panels etc would would need to be replaced.i once raised a 37 ft oday that had been sunk for over 24 hours and believe or not the engine had only about 1 quart of water in it,fired up on the first turn over,later it sold for $15000 without any further restoration

[sawingknots]

large truck intertubes with the valve stems connected to one fill stem

[deniseO30]

by the looks of the current I'd say it's going for a trip pretty soon and will become a hazard.

[night0wl]

Originally Posted by sawingknots

if it were mine.i could do it! depending how long its been under would determine the end/ worth,if the engine was attended to immediately and no doubt the wiring/electric panels etc would would need to be replaced.i once raised a 37 ft oday that had been sunk for over 24 hours and believe or not the engine had only about 1 quart of water in it,fired up on the first turn over,later it sold for $15000 without any further restoration

Big difference between a 37' cruising boat vs a 24 foot daysailor/weekender. The low end of the spectrum often has negative value. The keels probably has some scrap value

[Squidd]

Didn't they use ping pong balls to float a boat on Myth Busters once..?

[carl762]

Yup, they did, but it was pain in butt. Sad sight indeed.