Ballard Diving and Salvage and Pacific Pile and Marine successfully pulled a wrecked houseboat out of the water near Port Orchard’s Railroad Marina on Thursday morning.
Wednesday:
2 p.m.
A four-man crew from Ballard Diving and Salvage arrived in Port Orchard to do a preliminary inspection on the wreck, determine what could have caused it and begin to patch it up.
With four people, the crew had one more than the legal minimum required by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
4 p.m.
The crew got into the water.
Rob Seasock, the project supervisor, described the conditions for the preliminary dive as “perfect,” with “clear water.”
They found multiple holes punctured one of the pontoons that floats the vessel that, they believe, may have been caused by high winds battering the boat into pilings in the high winds several weeks ago.
Crews began patching up the holes using a sealant that hardens under water, so that they could later pump water out of the vessel as it was pulled out of the water.
They put safety lines the boat to prevent it from rolling over and ran lifting straps underneath the boat to prepare it to be lifted from the water by a 110-ton crane operated by Pacific Pile and Marine, a Seattle marine construction company.
8 p.m.
The divers finished their preliminary inspection.
Thursday:
6:30 a.m.
The diving crew came back to the area and finished getting the boat ready for the crane to lift it out of the water.
7 a.m.
The crane arrived, and a diver made sure that all the boat’s doors were open to let water out, and de-rigged all the rags and barrels that a previous dive crew had used to try to get the boat out of the water.
11:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.
A tugboat took the 32-ton houseboat away to be scrapped.
