Sunken Pontoon Recovery in Westview

A pontoon boat does not sink the way a hull does. The 20 ft Sylvan Mirage 20 had pontoons stained at the waterline and furniture rotted down to the frame, and a leaking tube pulled one side under. Only the top of the canopy showed beside the concrete seawall when we pulled up.

The obstacle was clearance. A seawall and a residential fence left no room for a crane, and the tubes were full of water, which makes the whole deck heavy. We worked from a skiff, drilled a drain at each tube, and fed lift bags under the deck. The pontoon came up in two steps, one side and then the other, which is how sunken boat removal works on tubes.

Time on site came to about six hours. One tube had split along a seam and the decking was gone, so no repair yard wanted it. A short tow down the canal brought it to a ramp, and from there it went to our yard near Brownsville for dismantling and recycling. The aluminum was the only salvage.