Red Cap Marine & Salvage

Red Cap Marine & Salvage We do sunk boat & vehicle salvage/recovery, on-water towing, fuel delivery, jumpstarts & moorings.

Welcome to fall on Lake Champlain! Top gust tonight at Colchester Reef so far is 47 mph.
09/03/2026

Welcome to fall on Lake Champlain! Top gust tonight at Colchester Reef so far is 47 mph.

09/02/2026

Next in my series on Lake Champlain chart errors is Garden Island southeast of Valcour Island. Once again, Garmin/Navionics gets things completely wrong.

09/01/2026

Next up in my Lake Champlain chart errors video series is the northwest point of Valcour Island.

(Make sure your sound is on if you want to hear about the issues)

If you missed my last post about Shelburne Point chart errors, see this link:
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/19PsTD4fPG/

09/01/2026

Over the next few days I'll be posting a video series on the worst Lake Champlain chart errors.

First up is Shelburne Point Reef, where Garmin/Navionics has things almost completely wrong.

Sandbar Island is back!
08/31/2026

Sandbar Island is back!

I headed down to Quaker Smith Point this afternoon along with Burlington Harbor Launch and Tow to refloat a 30' Back Cov...
08/30/2026

I headed down to Quaker Smith Point this afternoon along with Burlington Harbor Launch and Tow to refloat a 30' Back Cove cruiser hard aground. It had tried cutting inside (east of) green can #49.

Plowing along at 12 kts, the vessel left a trail of brass prop chunk sadness until things ground to a halt.

The boat ended up 4-5 inches above its normal water line hung up on bedrock from the wrecked prop forward along the hull pretty evenly bow to stern.

Spike & I rigged a bunch of lift bags, normally 16,000 lbs of lift -- more than the weight of the boat -- if we could have filled them with air all the way. But there wasn't enough space between the hull & the rocks to inflate them more then 1/3 of the way, which is why we rigged so many.

We also waded all over the surrounding area to evaluate the best way off the reef. It's tricky -- as it went aground, the boat had pushed quite a ways over shallow bedrock ridges mixed with erratic basketball-size rocks. We moved the larger rocks out of the way & marked the best path out with buoys.

The boat slowly rose up off the rocks as the lift bags filled. We walked it by hand out off the reef to deeper water, derigged the lift bags, then towed it back north to be hauled out for repairs.

There are two green can buoys at Quaker Smith Point/Reef. Most vessels can safely pass inside the outer/west buoy #47 which marks an area ~8' deep, but DO NOT go inside the inner east #49 buoy which marks the very shallow reef ~2' deep that this vessel hit.

Got called this afternoon to go help sort out a Beneteau 36' & a Beneteau 44' that collided while sailing -- not racing,...
08/30/2026

Got called this afternoon to go help sort out a Beneteau 36' & a Beneteau 44' that collided while sailing -- not racing, both boats just out enjoying the day until things went wrong. The larger vessel plowed through the smaller sailboat's side stays & dismasted it. Luckily no one was hurt.

Conditions were a bit tricky, strong breeze with 1-2' waves. Working with Bob & Jack from North Hero Marina we got the mast floated to the surface, disconnected & secured the roller furler aft. Then hoisted the mast using my workboat bow crane & secured it forward along the bow. The sailboat was able to motor back to the marina under its own power.

Wind over 30 mph & apparently the Major League Fishing bass tournament is still on. These guys have to navigate the broa...
08/27/2026

Wind over 30 mph & apparently the Major League Fishing bass tournament is still on. These guys have to navigate the broad lake into Plattsburgh to get back to weigh-in.

I just declined a tow across the broad lake to NY for a bass boat broken down in Carry Bay, North Hero. He was contemplating a tow to NY to shorten the car ride, versus hauling the boat out on the VT side. Towing into 4' waves on the broad lake could swamp his boat, it only works if they go fast enough to keep the bow up & tow speed is too slow.

This photo is a boat slamming upwind in Outer Malletts Bay, somewhat protected ... Broad lake is much worse.

My marine salvage jobs so far this year. A boat fire, hard & soft groundings, even a couple mast failures. Quite the ran...
08/26/2026

My marine salvage jobs so far this year. A boat fire, hard & soft groundings, even a couple mast failures. Quite the range in sizes too -- a Sunfish all the way up to a 42' motor yacht. The reef that typically causes the most mayhem is in the lead once again this year. It's well-marked with USCG nav buoys, but high boat traffic through the area & distance from shore make it the clear favorite of inattentive boaters. Read the list below to figure out what reef that is, if you don't know already... Don't be on this list!

NOTE: The "wanted" poster is just some AI-generated fun for attention, it didn't feel right to post a photo of any single incident. I didn't mean to imply everyone on this list is clueless. Some are, some are good boaters who just had a moment of poor judgement, others had bad luck or bad weather ... you know who you are 🙂

19' Regal taking on water from exhaust bellows near Sunset Island VT

26' Pearson sailboat hard aground at Colchester Shoal, VT

Beneteau Oceanis 393 sailboat hard aground at Colchester Shoal, VT

27' center console powerboat sunk at a dock, Burlington VT

Skeeter FXR20 bass boat soft grounding at Sandbar Causeway

Silverton 422 motor yacht hard aground near Pelots Point VT

Hunter Legend 40 sailboat hard aground at Valcour Island west shore

Sunfish with mast step failure, Stave Island Ledge

21' Bayliner taking on water, Outer Malletts Bay VT

Sea Ray Sundancer 320 hard aground at Colchester Shoal, VT

33' sailboat hard aground at Middle Reef, North Hero VT

21' Larson powerboat on fire & sinking, southeast of Garden Island NY

Beneteau First 35 sailboat hard aground at Carleton Prize, South Hero

30' Catalina sailboat hard aground on Allen Point Reef, South Hero

17' powerboat swamped on mooring, South Cove VT

23' Xpress bay boat sinking on mooring, Georgia Shore VT

21' bass boat swamped at dock, Cumberland Head NY

Beneteau First 285 hard aground at Spoon Bay, Valcour Island

24' Sylvan pontoon boat hard aground west side of Isle La Motte, VT

J105 sailboat dismasted 2 miles east of Schuyler Island, NY

22' pontoon boat beached south of Plattsburgh, NY

23' Sea Hunt sunk on a mooring, Shelburne Bay

Johnston’s Tree Service is here cutting down a huge poplar. The top half split off in the windstorm a few weeks ago & go...
08/24/2026

Johnston’s Tree Service is here cutting down a huge poplar. The top half split off in the windstorm a few weeks ago & got hung up 40' off the ground on no less than 4 other healthy trees. Great crew does really good work for a good price. If you have any tree work that needs doing, hire these guys.

https://www.facebook.com/share/1B4F5yYS3u/

Address

South Hero, VT
05486

Telephone

+18023553148

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Red Cap Marine & Salvage posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category