Weston, FL: 28 ft Carver 28 Off the Bottom in One Morning

Windows that leak will always win in the end. The 28 ft Carver 28 spent a wet season with its aft cabin filling a little each week, and by the time it was reported, only the cabin roof showed above the surface at a public ramp shared with fishing traffic.

Weight was the obstacle. An aft cabin Carver holds a lot of water, and a trailer cannot load a boat full of it. We started by draining the cabin down in stages while crew in waders worked slings under the hull, then added lift bags to bring the deck up. That gave us a floating hull the trailer could take.

On site we spent about four hours. The interior was rotted through, and the deck was spongy, so it was not a candidate for rebuild or salvage. After a short tow to the trailer we ran it past Pembroke Pines and unloaded at our yard for dismantling and recycling. Sunken boat removal like this rewards patience at the waterline.