 |  |  |  |
| The boat had sunk at the back due to the hull having filled up with water | Andrew put his drysuit on and got into the water with a rope attached in case he got stuck in the deep silt to see if he could reach the hole where the bung should have been | Feeling his way by hand under water he quickly located the hole and within a few seconds the bung was in place | OK, that's done, now how do we get the boat across the marina basin, out of the water and on to the trailer? |
 |  |  |  |
| Gradually, Peter (the boat owner), Jenny and Andrew pulled the boat nearer to the slipway using the mud to try to keep the boat above water | Andrew started to bail out the main deck area first using a bucket ... | ... and then moved to the two lockers using a plastic beer cup but found that the water was still pouring in through cable holes which he unsuccessfully tried to bung up with soggy toilet roll! | This was clearly a losing battle and was , in any case, doing nothing to empty the huge volume of water inside the hull. A long shot line rope was retrieved from the Club's dive rib, attached to the sunken boat and taken round to the slipway where Emma and David pulled the boat across the basin and near to the trailer |
 |  |  |  |
| Definitely above the call of duty for Marina owners! | Alan put the trailer into the water ... | ... and Andrew tried to manoeuvre the boat into position to be winched onto the trailer ... | ... Alan tried to wind the boat onto the trailer but it was so heavy with a hull full of water that it was difficult to get it properly seated |
 |  |  |  |
... eventually they were successful in getting the boat half onto the trailer (albeit with a distinct list to starboard) and Alan was able to tow it sufficiently out of the water before the skeg stuck on the slipway to allow some of the water to drain out.
| Once the boat was lighter, it was refloated off the trailer, realigned properly and, with the tractor struggling to get traction on the muddy slipway, pulled out of the water. Andrew then removed the bung so that the water in the hull could drain out
| Alan and Andrew survey the result of their hard work. | Water continued to pour out of the boat's hull for a considerable time once it was on dry land but eventually a grateful owner was able to hitch it to his car and set off for home to survey the damage and set about effecting repairs
|
