Lakeside, FL: 27 ft Catalina 27 Off the Bottom in One Morning

The 27 ft Catalina 27 had standing rigging seized and sails rotted in the bag, so nobody was going to move her under sail again. She spent years on a mooring with the cockpit drains blocked by leaves, and a hard rain pushed her past the point of floating. She settled by the stern with the bow pointing up.

The obstacle was the mooring itself. The pennant was fouled and the chain heavy with growth, so cutting loose was not an option; we needed the boat tied to something fixed while she rose. A diver cleared the pennant, the crew rigged two bags amidships and one aft, and a drain line started before the bags were full. The mooring held her the whole way.

The hull was good and the rig could be replaced, which made it a worthwhile salvage. We made the tow to the ramp at Fleming Island and trucked her to a repair yard. Five hours on site, and the sunken boat recovery was done by lunch.