Raising a 23 ft Rinker 232 in Lake Worth Beach, FL

Nobody wanted to look at the 23 ft Rinker 232 cuddy cabin anymore, not with gelcoat crazed like a road map. She sat in a slip, unvisited, while bilge water outpaced a failing float switch. One night the stern went down, and by morning the deck was awash with the bow just clear.

The obstacle was the slip. Her neighbors on either side were intact boats tied tight, and the marina office wanted nothing scratched. We rigged fenders on both, brought the lift bags in under her from the open end, and drained her slowly while she came up between the pilings.

She floated level after about two hours of that. A short tow took her to the haul-out lane with Boynton Beach the nearest stop on the route out. With a wet core and a long sit in the water, we saw no salvage to speak of. She went to our yard for dismantling and recycling, four hours on site for the sunken boat removal.