Raising a 62-Foot Sportfish That Sank at the Dock

By Gus Marchetti, Salvage master. Reviewed by Amanda McCallister, editor.

Marine Salvage & Recovery | Hull & Bottom Cleaning ["The call came in at 7:12 a.m. On a Thursday. Frankie's 62-foot Viking, Miss Ray, was sitting on the bottom of the slip behind his house in Tarpon Springs. He'd plugged in shore power and left her alone that night. By first light, she was down at the transom, and the diesel sheen was curling toward the neighbor's dock. I'd worked for Frankie for years. That morning his voice was tight, like he'd swallowed a spark plug.", "Tarpon Springs is a clannish town. The sponge docks run along the bayou, and everyone knows everyone's boat. By the time I backed my pickup down the ramp, a dozen people were already on the seawall. Some had coffee. One old Greek guy was pointing at the flybridge and telling anyone who'd listen that the boat was a goner. The sheriff's deputy had his hands full keeping the kids off the finger pier.", "I've raised everything from a 40-foot Gulf shrimper to a ferry that broke loose in a hurricane. But a boat that sinks at the dock is its own animal. The water's shallow, the bottom's mud, and you're working under piers with power lines and water lines. Every move you make shifts the mud, and the boat moves with it. You don't have big swells, but you've got an audience. Half of them have advice; the other half have cell phones."]

The Leak

Frankie's boat had a raw water intake for the generator. At 2 a.m., a section of rubber hose that ran from the through-hull fitting to the strainer gave way. It was old, weeping, and then it let go. Like most sportfish, Miss Ray had three bilge pumps, but only one automatic float switch. That pump was wired to the house battery, which had been run down by the stereo and the refrigerator. So the water came in faster than the dying battery could pump it. By 5 a.m., the stern was under. We found the failure in about ten minutes once we got a diver in the water. A piece of hose that looked like Swiss cheese. The strainer was clean; the hose was rotten. That's a classic dock sink. The hull had banged against the concrete curb and opened a seam about a foot long near the bow, which added another leak.

Containment and Patches

First thing, we contained the sheen. I had absorbent booms around the stern. The county hazmat guy showed up, took one look at the small rainbow, and said 'get it cleaned up before the tide changes.' We also shut the fuel shutoff valves at the tanks, which meant diving into a dark, oily water to feel for the valve handles. We got three portable pumps on board before the patching started. Then we used a pneumatic plumber's plug to block the raw water intake from the outside. That stopped the inflow entirely. For the crack in the hull, we drove a soft wooden wedge into it and then wrapped the whole area with a piece of neoprene and a ratchet strap. Not elegant, but it held the water back. You do what you can with what you've got.

The Gear

A dock sink is a low-speed, high-agitation job. I always bring two portable dewatering pumps that can move 300 gallons a minute each, but I only use one at a time. The other sits on the dock as a spare. I bring a scuba tank and a mask for the diver, even though the water is only four feet deep. It's dark under a boat, and you need the breathing line to work calmly. We carried four pneumatic lift bags in different sizes. The big ones are rated for 5,000 pounds of lift. We also had a toolbox with wedges, neoprene patches, hose clamps, and a bag of oakum—that tarred cotton you use to seal seams. And of course, a compressor to run the bags. You don't need a crane for most dock sinks, but you do need to be patient.

The Raise

We pumped for two hours. The boat came up slowly, stern first. At the halfway point, she stopped rising. The tide was ebbing, and the hull was still partially buried in the mud. The crowd on the seawall was already thinning out—they had expected a show, not a leak test. We set a pair of lift bags under the stern, inflated them gently with a compressor, and the suction let go with a belch of bubbles. The boat shot up a foot, then settled back level. We kept pumping, but the list to starboard got worse. The ac unit drain had been flooded and was dumping water into the bilge faster than the pump could handle it. We snagged a line from the dock mast to the starboard cleat and winched her upright. By the time the cockpit was dry enough to stand in, the sun was dropping. We tied her off and ran a rechargeable pump all night to keep up with the trickle from the patch.

The Real Lesson

Frankie's boat hadn't been neglected, exactly. He'd just assumed that because the hose looked fine on the outside, it was fine all the way through. If he'd reached in and squeezed the hose, he would have felt the softness. That's the thing about a dock sink: it's almost never the big part of the boat that fails. It's the nine-dollar piece of rubber you forgot about. The insurance covered the raise after Frankie paid his deductible. The boat's value was over a million, and the salvage cost, while painful, was a fraction of that. But to Frankie, it was a month of anxiety and a weekend of humiliation in front of the whole town. So here's your tip: once a year, go around to every through-hull fitting on the boat and replace the hose clamps. Replace any hose that feels soft or has cracks. Check your bilge pump float switch by lifting it manually and watching it run. That's a ten-minute test. It's the kind of maintenance that doesn't seem urgent, right up until your 62-footer goes down at the dock and becomes the subject of the local Facebook page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do boats sink at the dock? Usually it's a failed rubber hose on a through-hull fitting, a leaking stuffing box, or a malfunctioning bilge pump float switch. The boat's own weight and the fact that it's tied up mean water can keep pouring in without the boat moving. Will insurance cover a dock sink? Your boat insurance policy will cover accidental sinking, provided you've kept up maintenance and the boat wasn't already damaged. You'll pay the deductible, and your premium may go up. Can I pump the boat out myself with a portable pump? If the decks are still above water and the leak is small, you might. Once the water goes over the gunwale, you need a professional with divers and lift bags. Trying it yourself can capsize the boat and make the salvage far more expensive.