Boat Lift Cables Fail
30’ Cobia Falls Stern First

In Early April TowBoatU.S. Fort Lauderdale was called to assist with a 30’ Cobia Center Console that had fallen from a lift at a residence in Deerfield Beach Florida. It appeared that the cables supporting the stern portion of the lift’s bunks failed and the stern of the boat fell from the lift as the bunks snapped. This left the aft 25% of the boat underwater which included a pair of 300 HP Outboard motors.

The crew deployed a diver to assess the damage to the vessel and found that the motors were stuck in the mud but there didn’t appear to be any substantial damage to the hull. After rigging lift bags to the stern of the boat, what remained of the boat lift was slowly lowered while the lift bags were inflated. Once the stern was afloat, pumps were used to dewater the boat and care was taken to ensure no salt water damage was done to the forward portion of the vessel that had remained high and dry throughout the incident.

The vessel was towed to a local boatyard where she was hauled out, rinsed with fresh water and the machinery immediately received the attention that it required to minimize the overall repair costs. TowBoatU.S. Fort Lauderdale performs hundreds of salvage jobs each year. Since 1989, they have literally seen thousands of sunken vessels but each one presents its own unique challenges as they discovered with this successful case. Call TowBoatU.S. Fort Lauderdale 24/7/365 with your complex marine problem. They have a solution!