Jacksonville, FL: 34 ft Silverton 34 Off the Bottom in One Morning

For a decade the 34 ft Silverton 34 motor yacht sat on the hard under a blue tarp roof. Then someone put it back in a slip without checking the through-hulls, and it settled deck awash with the bow pointing up.

Thirty-four feet of water-filled hull in a marina is the kind of job where the office matters as much as the equipment. The manager wanted a plan in writing, fuel aboard needed containment, and the slip neighbors needed their lines checked twice. We staged a crew of four and set eight lift bags.

This sunken boat removal took most of the day. After refloating, the Silverton was held between two work skiffs and moved to the haul-out. The fuel went to a drum. The hull, saturated after a long soak, was cut apart. Salvage was limited to fittings and the props, with the tow ending at our yard near Neptune Beach.