Raising a 28 ft Bertram 28 in Pensacola, FL

The owner could no longer afford to keep the 28 ft Bertram 28 sportfisher, with twin engines dead and a cockpit sole gone soft. She sat at a public boat ramp for a few weeks, took on rain, and went down until the gunwales sat level with the water.

The obstacle was the traffic. A public ramp does not close for a job, so the crew worked around the launches. We staged at first light, placed the lift bags from the skiff, and ran the dewatering from the truck. The engine room had a film of oil, so sorbent went in before the first bag took air.

Five hours later she floated. A tow brought her to the ramp, and we pulled her onto a lowboy. With both engines seized and the sole rotten, no yard wanted the project. We trucked her toward Ferry Pass to our yard for dismantling and recycling, and the engines went out as salvage. A hard sunken boat removal, with a plain ending.