Raising a 26 ft Pearson 26 in Fort Lauderdale, FL

The marina office phoned about a 26 ft Pearson 26 whose deck core had gone soft around every stanchion. Rain had worked in for years, and one night she let go and sat in her slip with the deck awash.

The soft deck meant no straps across the top, and the neighbors' boats were close enough to touch. So we ran pumps from a barge outside the slip and sent two divers to rig slings around the hull. The marina had asked for a clear morning, and we gave it one. She came up between her neighbors with inches to spare.

The raise took most of a morning. Sunken boat removal in a crowded slip is slow, careful work. The core was rotted through the whole deck, so the Pearson went through Hollywood to our yard for dismantling and recycling. We kept the winches for salvage. A short tow moved her out of the slip.