Raising a 23 ft Chris-Craft Cavalier in Altamonte Springs, FL

The 23 ft Chris-Craft Cavalier carried decades of barn dust and a cracked keel strip, and it went into the lake the week its owner finally moved it to a dock. Two nights of rain did the rest. Water came in through the keel crack, and by the time we arrived the deck was awash with the bow just clear.

What complicated it was the dock. It was low and narrow, with no room to stage a skiff beside the hull, and a neighbor's pontoon sat twelve feet off the stern. We worked from the water side and strapped the hull so the cracked keel would not open further. Bringing her up on lift bags first and draining the cabin after kept the load off the weak strip.

About three hours on site. We made the tow to the ramp in short legs, then trailered the Cavalier toward Longwood to a repair yard. The hull was sound enough that a full keel repair makes sense, which is the kind of salvage that pays off in sunken boat recovery.